Something Wicked This Way Comes
by AngelGlass
Summary: When Toby Williams disappears under strange circumstances, Sarah is the main suspect. But what does Jareth or a haunted house have anything to do with this? Can the Goblin King and his Champion put aside their differences to save Toby in time?
1. Chapter 1

**This is a Halloween story, not sure how many chapters there will be or when I'll finish but I hope you'll enjoy it!**

* * *

Sarah whistled as she walked to pick Toby up from school. Her hours ended earlier that day than usual and she offered Karen to go pick Toby up, excited to see the boy.

"SARAH!" Toby ran towards Sarah, nearly knocking her over. "I didn't know you were picking me up!"

"Well I got off early and couldn't pass the - Ew, Toby!"

Toby was having a nosebleed and it got all over her new sweater that Karen had bought for her this chilly October. Toby sheepishly scooted back. "Sorry."

"Eh, no harm done. You've been getting a lot of these lately, haven't you?" Sarah brought out a tissue and handed it to him. "The air is really dry."

"Is that you, Sarah Williams?"

Sarah turned to see one of her old teachers, Mr. Peterson. She awkwardly tried to cover up the bloodstained sweater with her hand. "Hi Mr. Peterson!" He was her band teacher in middle school but was also teaching music classes in the elementary school at the same time. Hence how he knew Toby.

"Looks like Toby got another nosebleed." He said to her so Toby wouldn't hear and feel embarrassed. "How are you doing?"

"I'm well!" She beamed. "I graduated from NYU in microbiology and a minor in chemistry, and now I'm working at the biotech company downtown."

"Wow, it doesn't surprise me that you're so prestigious. Whatever happened to being an actress and a musician?" He asked her.

Sarah shrugged. "I loved doing both, but while in college, I realized how much I would hate it as a full time job. It's so easy to lose the passion you so craved and instead you worry about so many other things. I had a hard time enjoying music or even watching shows because all I could think about was how I would act or think or whatever. I'll go back to playing music or acting one of these days for fun, but overall I'm glad that I didn't pursue it as a career."

"That's very wise of you." He said. "So why biology and chemistry?"

"I had a knack for solving problems and coming up with new techniques." She grinned.

It was true. In the Labyrinth, she had learned quite a bit about thinking outside the box and reasoning things through. It didn't mean that her passion for fantasy and the arts faded, but she felt she'd rather not do it full time. She didn't tell anyone, but she would write short stories in her free time.

Biology and chemistry fascinated her because it explained the world around her. And through understanding, more discoveries could be made. It was a win-win situation to her.

"I'm hoping to work at the company for a while, save up money while living with my parents. Then maybe go to grad school to either get a masters or a PhD program if possible."

"Well, good luck in all your ambitions." He said to her. He glanced over at Toby sitting on a ledge and swinging his legs. "I guess you better go, your brother has a lot of energy."

"I guess I should." She laughed. "See you later, Mr. Peterson!"

Sarah held Toby's hand and he hummed a song that she had never heard before.

"And baby said, Dance magic dance!" Toby kicked a rock so hard it went flying.

"What song is that?" Sarah asked him. "Something Mr. Peterson taught you?"

"Nah, I heard it when I was a baby." Toby told her.

Sarah made a face but shrugged. Kids said weird stuff all the time.

"We talked about our favorite books today in class." Toby told her. "It was really fun and I got to share mine."

"That's wonderful." Sarah beamed. Toby had been a fast reader. "What books did you all discuss? And what's your favorite book?"

"A lot of people liked the Ramona books or Nancy Drew. I really like Encyclopedia Brown but my favorite is The Labyrinth!"

Sarah's face turned sheet white. "W-What?"

"It's a story about a princess who saves her brother from the goblin king. He's the bad guy, but I don't think he's that bad. He loves her."

Sarah felt really uneasy about this. She had never discussed the story to Toby and the book had been kept in her room. "Where did you find that book?"

"In the book shelf in the living room." Toby said. "I like the story because I think he knows that he wasn't very nice to her after she told him she had no power over him but she also knows to love her brother."

Sarah never thought of it that way before, the idea that maybe the goblin king could've seen the err of his ways. Sure, she wasn't perfect and she learned that, but it wasn't really fair of him to just yell at her and tell her he did everything when nothing made sense. Why couldn't he just explain things to her instead of making her confused?

She had thought of the Labyrinth daily. She called her friends and nothing happened. She didn't try to call the king, afraid that he hated her. Or even worse, that we would never call.

She would have doubted the whole thing happened had it not been for some artifacts left behind. A silver leaf and flower on a ribbon from her hair in the ballroom dream, a feather of a barn owl in Toby's old room, and a perfect crystal. Like a treasure, she placed all of those and her music box in a special jewelry box that Karen had given her for her 16th birthday.

She had a stuffed fiery, a Ludo doll, and many more things she had prior to that fateful meeting. What was the book really about? Why did she have it?

They were questions she wanted an answer to but she also was too afraid to even think about them.

"Sar, look at that."

Sarah snapped out her thoughts and saw Toby pointing to a house. "Yeah, it's the abandoned house. What about it?"

"I went there sometimes." He said. "Just to go exploring. There's goblins inside who want to play with me."

Sarah had a million things on her mind. She was about to tell Toby to not associate with the goblins. Not because they were bad, but because they were clumsy and could cause harm (like when the king sent an army after her). "Toby-"

"Race ya!" He took off running to the house.

"TOBIAS WILLIAMS!" Sarah yelled after him. She ran after him and panicked at seeing the house.

Something felt off about this place and she didn't know why.

Toby walked into the house and disappeared.

"Ugh, this place gives me the creeps." She stared at it. "Toby! Come out now!"

No response.

The house was over 100 years old and why no one took it down was a mystery. It was two stories high, its white paint was peeling off too.

"Ugh." Sarah marched up the steps. If anything was going to trigger Toby's nose bleed besides the dry weather, it would definitely be the amount of dust inside. "Toby!"

The moment she stepped into the doorway, her head started to spin. She saw a flash of lime green energy hit her and she fell backwards out of the house.

The last thing she saw were two bright, orange eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Sarah groaned at her body being uncomfortably stiff. Her behind felt tender and she was lucky that her tailbone was still intact.

It was dark outside now and she shivered in the cold. Standing up, she realized that it must've been hours since she had seen Toby.

Oh no.

Toby!

"TOBY!" She screamed. She ran towards the house but was once again stopped by some invisible force. It felt evil and she knew she needed back up. "What the hell!" She yelled at it.

She ran to the payphone. She grabbed a few coins and shoved it into the slot to call 911.

"Hello? My brother is missing!"

She tried to tell them the best she could, but she sounded like a mad woman.

The police and ambulance came. She insisted she was fine but they found her otherwise.

"Goblins and Toby!" She kept on crying. After saving him from a world not her own, he was now hurt by some unseen force.

Everything was in a blur. They found scratches on her body and took her clothes for evidence. As there wasn't enough evidence to convict her, they let her go.

For now.

Sarah had heard of these spirits before but had never encountered them. She was usually a skeptic (which was ironic considering her Labyrinth adventure). She kept thinking about the goblins Toby had said he'd seen. Had it really been Goblins?

She went back home and after huddling with her parents, they decided to go on a search party and left Sarah at home. She insisted she go with them but it turned out that she sprained an ankle as well. Robert told her that they would do their best.

"I'm a suspect." She said tearfully. "I would never hurt Toby."

"We know." Karen said. She handed Sarah an ice pack. "Don't blame yourself, Sarah. Please."

But it was difficult to not blame herself. How couldn't she? She went through all the scenarios for what might have happened.

She still wondered if the Goblin King has anything to do with it. Goblins, magic, maybe he wanted revenge?

But while he seemed petty as hell, he never came off as evil. She had been afraid that he hurt her brother but the goblins told her the opposite, that Jareth had given Toby a stuffed doll and even sang for him.

And when he sang for her, danced with her, there was a spark of sincerity in his eyes. But how could he have felt something for her? She was 15. A child in many ways. He even acknowledged it by telling her to go play with her toys and costumes.

He was an enigma.

Toby also mentioned him right before he disappeared. Could that have been related? Or merely a coincidence?

Going back up to her room, she checked her special jewelry box, the one with artifacts from her time there.

She had tried to call all her friends many times. But the king, he was the only one she hadn't ever tried to call. What if he hated her? What if he made fun of her?

But worst of all, what if he never came?

She tried to think of the whole thing as an adventure. That she didn't need to worry about it anymore. But the truth was, it would never leave her. It changed her for the better. It helped her to mature. It made her a better friend, sister, daughter.

She held the crystal in her hands. Years ago, she had dreamed of being swept off her feet and being given everything. When she ran the labyrinth, she knew that she didn't want dreams.

She wanted something real. Maybe that's why she was scared of the result of calling on him, that he'd be a dream and nothing more.

"You'll never know, unless you try, right?" She laughed hollowly. And besides, Toby was in danger.

She would take this risk for her brother.

Standing tall, she faced her window. "I wish the goblin king would come to me."


	3. Chapter 3

She sat there, waiting for 13 seconds. Exactly 13 seconds, according to her clock. Then, right at the 13th second, an owl flew in her room and wrapped its wings around itself, turning into the king of goblins.

Sarah gulped. Maybe having her ankle sprained wasn't the best situation she could've been in, not able to take care of herself. But he had magic. If he wanted to hurt her, he could do it regardless of her physical strength.

He stood in front of her in all black, but a different clothing than when he had come originally. He still had on heeled boots and tights but he had on a different type of shirt. A black one with a deep v-neck that showed off the pendant on his pale chest instead of armor. His hair flowed in the moonlight and his eyes were staring at her with the deepest intensity.

Sarah didn't back down. When she first met him, she was scared. At the end of her journey, she refused to back down. He had no right to act that way towards her. Sure, she was a whiny kid but he should've talked to her more clearly instead of being manipulative. If he was ignorant to what he was doing, she could forgive that but he still needed to learn.

"So did you call to just stare at me?" He raised an eyebrow. Then he smiled. "I suppose that wouldn't be so surprising." He gave her a predatory and flirtatious smile.

Sarah sat up a little straighter and narrowed her eyes. "You think too much of yourself, goblin king."

He gracefully sat in her beanbag chair (how does anyone sit it one gracefully?) and rested his elbow on her desk. "What does that say about you think of me then? You called on me for some reason."

Sarah found that she didn't fear him one bit. He was seductive and he tried to make her squirm but she didn't feel in danger. She hoped her gut feeling was right. "You mean you don't know?"

Jareth snorted. "I do have a kingdom to run, you know. I answered your call because you sounded worried. After 7 years since our meeting, what could possibly be so important that you'd call for me at this hour?"

Sarah raised her eyebrow at his mention of 7 years. Did he just have a good memory or was he keeping track? Her mind wandered to the past when he danced with her. _No, focus_.

"It's Toby." She looked to the clock. Nearly 1am. "He's missing."

His eyes flashed with something but only for a moment. It looked like genuine concern. "Missing?"

"And I don't know what's taken him." To her dismay, her bottom lip began to tremble. "There's this abandoned house that he claims goblins call for him to play. Then I was thrown backwards today by some unseen force."

The king got up to pace back and forth. "And you assume that I had something to do with it?"

"Well, when I heard goblins, yeah." She admitted. "But only for a moment. The moment I stepped in the doorway, I was hit by some green light and I saw orange eyes before I fell. I woke up hours later with scratches all over me."

She showed him her arm. "The police are suspicious because it looks like nails from a child, but I swear it's not me. I know it wasn't you because the house felt evil. I asked you to come help me."

He stopped pacing and faced her. He raised an eyebrow. "And why would you assume that I would?"

Sarah felt anger rising in her. She didn't want to play any games with him. "I never said I did. I ask you because I care for my brother. You have no idea how I've been battling with myself, wondering if you wanted to hurt me. Wondering if you would. You're not responsible for helping, but I don't know who better to ask. Please."

She let out a sigh. "I just want him safe at home. Don't do this for me then. Do it for him. Please, goblin king."

He stood for a moment as if in thought. He walked towards her bed and sat down next to her. Sarah didn't scoot away even though she was a little frightened by his closeness.

He held his hand out. "Let me check your wounds." When Sarah hesitated, he added "It can help to maybe give clues for the attacker and kidnapper."

Sarah nodded. He took his gloves off and touched her ankle. Instantly, the pain began to lessen but it still hurt.

"I can't heal you all the way, you're a human and I'm no healer." He said quietly to avoid scaring her. "Where are the scratches besides your arm?"

Sarah shivered a little. "All over my arms and stomach, some on my neck. Thank you for helping with my foot, goblin king."

"Jareth." He gave her a small smile. The first genuine one she had seen that night. "Please call me Jareth."

"Thank you, Jareth." Sarah returned his smile.

Sarah showed him her arm. When Jareth touched her, he hissed as if he was the one in pain.

"What is it?" She asked him in an alarmed voice.

Jareth's face was set straight. His mouth was in a thin line and his eyes glared at her arm as if it was trying to kill him. Maybe it was. "I don't totally know what that was, but it's going to infect you and I have to remove it with my bare hands. I'll have to take the sample to my physician to get an answer."

He looked at her in the eye. "I'm sorry, this is going to be painful as I take it out."

Sarah's tears sprang to her eyes. "What about Toby? Those monsters have him."

To her surprise, Jareth put a hand on hers. "I don't want to say anything yet about what this may be, but have faith, Sarah. I'm hoping that maybe they just were crueler to you physically and just wanted to kidnap him."

"But what are they?" Sarah's voice rose to a panic.

"If you'd let me extract this stuff out of you and to my physician, the sooner we can get this over with." He said simply.

Sarah turned so he could touch her arm. She braced herself for the pain.

She heard Jareth hiss again at touching her arm. He was sweating from whatever it was that was hurting him more than it was hurting her.

Then she felt it.

She bit her bottom lip to keep from screaming. It felt like someone was giving her fresh slices into her and rubbed salt in the wound. Thankfully, the wound on her arm was pretty mild so it stopped fairly quickly.

Jareth encased the strange, green substance in a crystal. He wiped the sweat off his brow. "How do you feel?"

Sarah looked at her scratches. They're ere still there but didn't look so bad as before. She even felt better, not realizing the affect it had on her. "Good."

He nodded. "You said you had some on your body?"

Sarah blushed. "Uh, yeah. I'm not sure why but there are scratches on my stomach. The clothes I wore are with the forensic scientists and they don't have any scratches on them."

Jareth rubbed his hands, looking a bit uncomfortable. "I have to be able to touch you directly, Sarah. I'm sorry for any discomfort I may cause you."

She was shocked at this. Sure, she didn't take him as a man to take advantage of her but he didn't have to be so considerate. He didn't seem that way last time they met. She nodded a little. "It's okay. I appreciate the warning."

Jareth let out a breath. "Lie on your back and lift up your shirt up for me."

She did as she was told. She turned away from him so she didn't have to meet his eyes. Gripping her pajama shirt, she undid the buttons and let her bare stomach be exposed to the cool air.

Jareth kept his face schooled. He had been trained to do more than just basic first aid in his world per his job as king. As such, he was comfortable with bodies and was professional as a doctor would be (or anyone who saw naked bodies for healing and otherwise). But Sarah wasn't just a random person to him. He felt anger rising in him that someone or something had marred her beautiful skin. She was lovely.

He concentrated and put his hands on her as gently as he could, even though whatever the abhorrent substance was that was hurting his hands. He started with the top then descending down. He extracted the marks from her collar bone. Then he reached her stomach.

Sarah jumped for more than one reason when he touched her stomach. It HURT like hell for one. For another, she had burning erotic dreams of him touching her. Just without the pain.

"This is the worst." His voice was strained. "Almost done here."

His hand brushed over her belly button and she screamed in agony. Her body convulsed and shook from the sensitivity. She sobbed a whimpered. "Please stop."

After a few more seconds with him extracting at her stomach, Jareth did stop. He used magic to once again cover up her body.

Sarah turned to face him. He looked awfully sad for what had to be done. He held his hands to her, palms up in apology. "I tried to do what I could to shield you from the pain as best as I could. I got all of it out now."

He showed her the crystals. Three total. "I really am sorry."

Sarah knew he was and nodded. At least he was being professional about it. She glanced over at his hands and gasped. "Jareth!"

His hands were blistered and gross looking. Some of the blisters were even bleeding.

"I'm fine." He said curtly. "Don't worry about me."

Sarah looked into his eyes sadly. "Was that because you tried to shield me?"

Jareth didn't answer at first. He made a face when putting his gloves back on. "Yes."

"I appreciate it." She told him. "Thank you for everything you've done."

Jareth smiled fondly at her. "That was about 7 years overdue but I'll take it."

Sarah blinked. She opened her mouth to question him but his head whipped up suddenly.

"You're kidding me." He growled. "Someone is wishing a child away."

He quickly put his other glove on. "I can only stay in this humanoid form at night unless someone wishes a child away. It's when my powers are at their strongest. I have to deal with the runner but tomorrow at sunset, I will be back and you will take me to the house."

Sarah gave a nod. "It's a plan. What should I do in the meantime?"

Jareth looked at her directly in the eye. "Pray."

* * *

 **Yay, Jareth is here! I hope you guys will enjoy the story. Hopefully it won't take too long to finish.**


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: I don't know very much about crimes and jail and whatever (like about bail or security, interrogations, that kinda thing). If there's a mistake just roll along with it I suppose because even shows like Grey's Anatomy aren't accurate at times and I'm doing this for free. However, if you want to tell me how it would really go down feel free to tell me anyway since I'm curious!**

* * *

Now Sarah was in a jail cell.

Great.

During breakfast, the police came to arrest her. The blood on her sweater was confirmed to by Toby's and the scratches on her face fit a child-sized hand. It was also suspicious that her clothing was largely unharmed but she had strange scratches.

She was brought into the room for an interrogation earlier that day. She had Mr. Peterson confirm as an alibi that Toby did indeed have a nosebleed all over her yesterday to account for the blood. But that was the only thing that defended her. The officers checked the abandoned house but found nothing askew though they did put tape around it to do more searching if needed, to find Toby's body for example.

Sarah wasn't able to explain away the marks and scratches and they tried to manipulate a confession out of her.

"You were an only child for a long time before he came, correct?" The detective asked her.

Sarah was taken aback. "Yes, but what does that have to do with this?"

"Did you ever feel resentful towards him for taking attention away from your parents?"

Sarah decided to be truthful. "I mean as a teenager, kind of? But it was more like being annoyed that I felt obligated to watch over him because it would save money. Just normal older sibling worries and nothing more."

"Hmm." The detective said. That _hmm_ didn't sound like she believed Sarah at all. "You say you were passed out when he ran into the house? Kind of strange."

"I know." Sarah said. "But it's all I have. I wouldn't ever hurt him."

She tried to not panic. She felt some self blame for what happened to Toby and was close to saying that she felt responsible. But Jareth's words from last night kept her strong. Keep faith, he had told her.

If she said she felt responsible, they would no doubt find this incriminating. Sarah had taken a few psychology classes and learned interestingly that a lot of people believed and confessed to crimes they had never committed simply because of the mental manipulations. She would not let herself be one of those people.

After the interrogation was over, the detective sighed. "Ms. Williams, we are arresting you for the evidence we have found. You will be here for one week."

Sarah protested over and over but it was no use. She was placed in a cell and she sobbed over and over until she fell asleep even though it was day time. Everything felt helpless and cold. She couldn't even join the search party to help find Toby.

* * *

It was around 9pm when she woke up from some commotion going on outside. "What the hell?" She mumbled.

She heard a light, almost British sounded accent from the front where the jailer was. Clearing her head, she strained to listen until she realized what was happening.

"I am her lawyer. Please let me through."

A few sounds were made then a large burly man (the jailer) came walking with a well dressed man beside him.

Jareth.

"Williams." The jailer read. "This man is your lawyer?"

Sarah's eyes darted back and forth. Jareth had on a nice, black suit and his hair was short. He didn't have any make up and in his hand was a briefcase. She locked eyes with him and understood what he was doing.

"Yes." Sarah nodded. "He is my lawyer."

"I'll leave you to it." The jailer let him in and walked away.

Jareth gave a very businesslike nod. "I have something for you to look over, some paperwork." He handed a sheet for her to read.

Sarah only gave him glance before reading what he had for her.

 _Sarah,_

 _I was not able to go to the house directly due to a wisher. I need you to come with me so that I can see how the magic in it has effected you._

 _My physician analyzed the poison that was in you. He has concluded that it was a from a demon from the Overground. You already know that the Underground is a place where creatures me and goblins live. The Overground is similar but has different types of creatures. Good and bad creatures are in all worlds, but these are the ones that usually appear in a death or a haunting. That's the simplest way I can put it for you._

 _I believe that they may still have Toby in the house as it seems to be a portal to many worlds. As for why they have him, there are many motives so I am unsure what that could be. We need to act fast if we are going to save him, preferably tonight. I have until about 5am to save him. After that, I cannot travel between worlds or use my magic as well during the day and will be powerless against them._

 _When you're done reading, I will hand you a crystal which will disguise you as a police officer. My magic is bound in this place full of iron. We need to walk out separately as to not attract anything. There will be a dummy in your spot. If everything goes well, I will have you back in this cell before tomorrow with Toby safe. That way, you can be released when he is found._

Sarah kept her face neutral and set the paper down. She looked at him directly. "You've thought this out quite well."

"I try to." Jareth crossed one leg over the other. Only his eyes betrayed anything amiss. "What do you think about the plan?"

Sarah swallowed as he took out his briefcase. "I think it's a good plan. I'm down."

Jareth gave a nod. He took a crystal out of his briefcase and threw it in the air. In a rain of glitter, she was transformed to look like a police officer.

Jareth walked out first. His gait confident and with authority. Sarah waited a few minutes then walked out behind him.

It should be easy, just walking out. But it was not. She was so sure that someone would catch her. Lucky for her though, she had been an actress in high school and college plays. She pretended that this was her during a performance. _Just performance anxiety, don't worry too much about it._

She walked all the way out of the building where Jareth was waiting for her. He gave a nod and turned on his heel. Sarah kept a safe distance from him.

After a block or so, Jareth had them go into a bunch of bushes.

He transformed them back to his usual clothing of black shirt and black boots. Except Sarah had on a Victorian style dress with a cape.

"What are you doing?" She hissed. "We're dressed like a couple of crazy people!"

Jareth smirked. "Look at the children."

Sarah blinked, confused. She peaked from the bushes and saw children all over wearing costumes.

"Halloween." She whispered.

"A time where we would blend in more if we were dressed like a couple of crazy people, wouldn't we?" Jareth flashed a grin at her. Even in an emergency, he had to be an arrogant asshole.

Sarah looked at the children sadly, not responding to Jareth's words. The king frowned. "Sarah?"

"It's Halloween and Toby is missing trick or treating." She said sadly. "He really, really wanted to show off his costume this year and hang out with his friends."

She wiped a few tears. "We have to find him, Jareth."

"You have my word that he'll be found." Jareth said. He held out a tissue to her. "I swear it."

Sarah wiped her eyes. She decided to change he subject. "Why this outfit?" She pulled on the blue dress. She didn't dare tell him that she liked it though. She looked at it a little closer. "Hey, this looks like Christine's mausoleum dress in Phantom of the Opera."

He shrugged. "It looked nice, and besides, it's one of my favorite musicals."

He leaned into her ear. "I figured you'd be more comfortable in it than something a little more… revealing." His warm breath made her shiver even in the cold October air.

Sarah moved away from him and glared. Yes, she found him amazingly attractive but this was not the time to be contemplating that. If he really wanted her, he had other chances. "Knock it off."

Jareth pouted. "My my, so stubborn." He held his gloved hand to her. "Let's go to the house."

Sarah placed her hand in his. The air shimmered and there they stood, inside the DO NOT CROSS tapes and right in front of the house.

The evil feeling filled her again. Sarah wanted to claw at it.

Looking at Jareth, he had a look of concern on his face. "If you feel up to it, try to place your hand on the door. Don't worry, I promise I'll keep you safe."

She nodded. Sometimes, he could be so annoyingly arrogant and other times, he could be so gentle and concerning. She wanted to contemplate on this more, but thoughts of Toby forced her away from Jareth.

Slowly, she placed her hand on the door and yelled in pain. "DAMN IT STINGS!"

Jareth took her hand. No visible burns or markings were on her. Sarah shook like a leaf, from either the cold or the pain, he couldn't tell.

"It stopped hurting." She said quietly. "I hate this place."

Jareth hummed a little. "I believe that this place makes you feel this way because you've crossed realms before. Not the Overground realm, but in general. Just a theory though, as you have been touched by magic."

"Then why did Toby look so happy to go in it?" She hated how her voice came out as a whimper.

Jareth shrugged. "No idea. Again, there are a lot of theories but I have no definitive answer."

He rolled up his sleeves. "If I don't come out by dawn, make sure you go to your home and call your friends."

"They haven't answered me in 7 years." Sarah hates how she was pouting. "How will they answer me now?"

Jareth sighed. "It's because you had to contact me first. No one was allowed to contact you until you contacted me as I am the keeper of realms. I could not approach you until you opened that path. One you contacted me, I will allow who I want to visit you and I would have allowed your friends to visit. You just had to ask me first."

Sarah wanted to kick herself. She could've just wished for Jareth this whole time! Then she realized how lucky she was that he didn't want to hurt her.

"Anyway," Jareth said. "Then tell them that I am in danger if I don't come out by sunrise."

"Wait hold up." Sarah blocked him. "I'm going in there too!"

"You can't!" He yelled. "Toby is in danger and you might get hurt."

"Why don't you get more people to come with you instead of coming yourself?" Sarah threw her hands up in the air. "Besides I want to save my brother. I can't just sit here and worry about you and your safety too."

She wasn't sure why she felt this way, but if something happened to Jareth, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself. It felt like someone would be slicing through her heart.

Jareth's face had a slow smile filling it. "Worry about my safety? Why, I'm touched that you care."

"Shut the hell up." Sarah snapped. She mentally kicked herself for caring so much about him. This was beyond being grateful for his help. If something happened to him, she would not only feel guilt, she'd be heartbroken.

Woah. Being heartbroken? Where did THAT come from?

But seeing his calm demeanor at her, she refused to let him know that's how she felt. She hated always caring for someone more than they cared for her.

Or maybe it was the opposite 7 years ago, and now the tides have turned.

Or maybe he still cared for her but was being aloof?

She huffed at him still, not letting him see. "You didn't tell me why any others from your world aren't here, just you."

Jareth rolled his eyes at having to explain something once again to her. "Because, Sarah, this doesn't concern anyone else. When Toby is kidnapped, there is a search party for him, yes? Would you go to a different state to go to try to find a missing child there?"

Sarah quieted. He was right, she would not.

"It's not because they're unsympathetic." Jareth said in a softer tone. "But this is also a risk not many would take for someone they hardly know. The danger itself is hardly known."

To her surprise, Jareth put a gentle hand on her shoulder. The fire in his blue eyes were unmistakable.

"But I'm willing to take that risk." He said gruffly. "I promise you, I will do all I can for him."

He began to walk away but Sarah held tightly to his sleeve.

"We don't have time." He growled. "I need to go get him."

Sarah rolled her sleeves up. "I'm not just standing back, letting you go in after my brother alone. I'm coming in with you."

"You're going to be in the way." He said condescendingly. "And a distraction for me."

At the last part, he let his eyes roam over her.

Sarah felt that she should be covering herself up or folding her arms. But strangely, she didn't feel like he was being perverted, just that it was in his nature to be flirty. When she was 15, he was seductive but not this bold. She assumed that he was acting this way now for two reasons. One, she was an adult. Two, he was trying to dissuade her from going in.

She folded her arms. "Nice try. I'm not going to be intimidated by you."

Jareth rolled his eyes. "I wasn't joking. You would be a distraction if you cannot control your emotions and this is an emotional time. It's not just finding him, but dealing with creatures not from either of our worlds."

"I would go to hell for Toby." Sarah matched his intense gaze. "I already proved how much I truly love him after running your labyrinth. And I bested you, remember? Through dangers untold-"

"I already know how it ends." He growled. "You best not finish that line."

"Why?" She stomped her foot down at him. "Because you're still sore that I didn't take some fantasy world?"

"You have no idea what you did that night." He hissed out. Jareth took a few steps away from her and put his head in his hands.

Sarah opened her mouth to taunt him some more, but he really did look to be in pain. Not just ego, but something else. "Jareth?"

"Fine." He spat. The king of goblins flicked his wrist and threw a crystal at her.

Sarah put her hands up automatically to shield herself. "WHAT THE F- Oh."

He had transformed her from her large skirt and hoops dress into something much more practical. She had on riding pants and a cream colored riding shirt with boots on. Her hair was in a braid behind her back and she had gloves on her hands. She also had on a watch, something she started to wear after running his Labyrinth.

"Since you're going to be insistent no matter what I do," he walked passed her. "I figured you must be dressed practically for this mission."

He huffed. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"As if you care." Sarah said through clenched teeth. "You'd probably be happy if I did. I'm like a thorn by your side it seems."

She looked up at the house and down to her watch. "It's 10pm, only 7 hours until sunrise. Let's get going."

What Sarah didn't see was Jareth's forlorn face looking at the back of her head. His eyes drooped and he sighed. _Does she really think that's how I feel towards her? She has no idea, does she?_

 _She hasn't no idea that if she were to die, I would die too._


	5. Chapter 5

"How do I cross in if I'm going to just be thrown backwards?" Sarah wondered aloud.

"Here." Jareth took off his medallion and placed it on her. "This will keep you protected."

It settled on her comfortably and Sarah could've sworn that it glowed just a little. She looked at Jareth questioningly. "How would this help? And what about you?"

"I have magic." He said tersely, his patience was thinning. "The pendent keeps you tethered to me, if you will, as it has the seal of my kingdom."

Sarah touched the necklace. It was still warm from sitting on Jareth's bare chest. Which was still exposed for her to see. Damn, did he look good.

She didn't have time to contemplate on this though. He was tapping his foot impatiently.

She ignored his tapping. Another tactic of his to get her to go away or to annoy her. "Alright, what should I do or expect inside?"

"You should always be near me as much as you can." He said. "Don't separate from me, ever. We know very little of what's in there besides demons and we don't even really know what kind. It seems that there are things that can shape shift at least enough to trick Toby to think that there were goblins. Don't trust your eyes right away and don't let your nerves drag you down from the anticipation of something coming to you."

"What should I do if something comes after me?"

"Some creatures won't have power over you unless you let them. Other than that, just listen and do as I say. Understood?"

Sarah nodded. Jareth held his hand out to her. Unsure of what he was doing, she just trusted him and placed her gloved hand in his also gloved hand.

They cross the threshold. The moment they stepped in, the door slammed itself shut.

Sarah jumped and instinctively squeezed Jareth's hand tighter. "What was that?"

"It seems that whatever is here isn't happy we're here. Or maybe they are and want to keep us in." Jareth exhaled sharply. "My magic is limited here and I'm not a fan of that."

"Great." Sarah commented. She let go of his hand and rubbed her body. "Damn why is it so freaking cold?"

Without a word, Jareth unclasped his cape and wrapped it around her. He put his hands on her shoulders tenderly but only for a moment.

Sarah was about to thank him when he started to speak. "Always so demanding." His eyes were cold and hard, unlike his gentle, warm touch a moment ago.

"Excuse me?" She whirled on him. "I was about to thank you and say there's no need. I didn't even ask for it, you gave it to me."

"I gave it to you because you wouldn't stop complaining about the cold if I didn't. Don't take it as something else." He looked to the right. "Let's go in this study first, work our way from the bottom to the top."

Sarah was already sick of this. Only 7 hours to get Toby back and then she didn't have to see _him_ again, she told herself. Why was he assuming that she was still a spoiled child? "For the record, I was taking it as you being kind to me. Nothing more. I already understand that not every ounce of kindness or affection doesn't have to mean anything other than basic decency. Do YOU assume that every woman who's nice to you is trying to get in your bed then?"

Jareth didn't respond to her. He was too busy examining the room though his back stiffened when she said " _every woman_."

Sarah figured she should do the same. "Are we looking for anything in particular?"

"Magic, perhaps." He inspected the bookshelf. "Or anything out of the ordinary."

"Could you be a little more vague?" She sent daggers at him with her eyes.

"We're looking for something. Vague enough for you, Precious?" He still didn't turn to her.

"Go to hell." She mumbled.

"Better than being stuck with you." He taunted back.

Sarah felt her face growing hot with a plethora of emotions. Why _was_ he here? Last night he had been more teasing and more gentle. He still was, but why did he have to act so aloof? This anger couldn't just be because of the situation they were in, she could tell there was more to it. Did he perhaps care about Toby and was worried about him?

Then she remembered the panic look in his eyes when she told him she was going in too. Maybe he did care about her? But if so, why was he acting this way?

She shook her head. And they say women were confusing. Obviously whoever said that had never met Jareth.

After some inspection of the desk, Sarah noticed something odd. "Jareth?"

"Hmm?" He snapped the book shut to look at her.

"Did you notice that there isn't any dust?" She wiped a finger across the underside of the table. "As if someone has been in here. And the furniture still looks in good condition, although old styled like the house itself."

Jareth looked at her curiously. "No dust?" He gestured all around him. "All I can see is dust."

Sarah felt annoyance building up in her. As she was about to defend herself, he silenced her with a hand. "I'm not accusing you of lying. And I'm not lying myself. This is just very strange."

Sarah's eyes widened. She pointed to the desk where she had inspected earlier. "That desk, do you not see it?"

Jareth shook his head. "No, all I see is the floor."

Sarah tilted her head curiously. "Walk back and forth to where I'm pointing at."

Jareth gave her a look but did as she had asked him. Just as she had thought, he walked right through the desk as if he were a ghost.

She clasped her hand over her mouth. "Why are we seeing different things?"

Jareth's lip tightened into a straight line. "I'm not sure, but I really, really am hating this. Do me a favor and go to the desk. Try to walk through it and feel around it for me."

Sarah gave a single nod. She put her hands on the desk and she tried to walk through it but couldn't. She even closed her eyes and pretended it wasn't there but she kept bumping into it. "I can't."

Jareth felt some of his worst fears being confirmed. She could be out of his reach if he was correct. "Sarah, whatever happens, do NOT take off that pendent around your neck. You hear me?"

Sarah walked towards him, feeling more and more scared by the minute. "Why? What's going on?"

"You're in a different realm, the Overground." He said with a hoarse whisper.

"How? But you're still Above?" She asked him.

"Yes." He said. "It's like a different dimension if that makes sense. It would seem that the pendent is not only protecting you, it's keeping you with me as a tether. Either that or it's all some strange illusion."

Sarah felt herself shake and her vision blurring. Ghost stories never sat well with her. She wasn't a hardcore believer or anything, but the idea of them scared her. So did the idea of being tricked with illusions. Fairies and even trolls were one thing, for they were tangible beings. These demons are not.

And what of Toby? Oh god, what was happening to her baby brother now?

She felt her body jolt with some gentle shaking. Clearing her head, she realized that Jareth was holding her by the shoulders.

"Sarah? Sarah, Precious come back to me!" He said fervently. His voice was shrill and desperate. "Sarah?"

"Sorry." She mumbled. "I think I got a little overwhelmed."

She winced, realizing how she must've sounded. She braced herself for him to scold her about how she should've stayed behind. Or how stupid she was. Or how she was no match for any of these creatures.

But instead, he took her in his arms in a very, very gentle embrace. Sarah realized she was still shivering and tears were coming from her eyes.

"It's okay." He whispered to her ear in a soothing voice. "We will get Toby back. You're not alone in this." He pulled back. "Alright?"

Sarah nodded. "Yeah. I know. Thank you." She felt an urge to feel safe again in his arms. To go away and forget all of this. And she would if it weren't for Toby.

He gave a nod back. "You're welcome." He dropped his hands from her shoulders.

He looked around the room some more. "I only found this one book. Are there more that you can see?"

Sarah nodded. "Lots more. Funny how that book happened to be here still. What's it on?"

Jareth hesitated for a moment. He bit his bottom lip and handed the book to Sarah. "See for yourself."

Sarah didn't like his hesitation. Then again, she hated everything about this situation anyway. She took the book from him. To her, it looked brand new and freshly printed.

She looked at the cover and gasped, dropping it.

On the front cover of the small red book, it said " _The Labyrinth_."


	6. Chapter 6

"Wha- How did, I don't understand…" Sarah backed away from the book.

It was the same copy as the one she had, but also not the same. Her copy had notes written in them, worn and old. Notes on how she would act certain parts out.

"This book looks old to me, but not well used." He said. "As if someone had bought it new and then let it sit around for a hundred years or so. I wager this is more than just being in a different realm." Jareth said in a tight voice. He picked it up and placed it in his bag.

"But what the hell is this doing here?!" She pointed at it like it was the devil itself. "Do all stories of the goblin king get spread around in books? This one looks new, mint condition."

"I can only guess why it's here. Most stories are word of mouth, and like many stories lots are laced with truth." He replied. He had an uneasy look on his face. "This book tells a tale of long ago, when my mother, a princess from this land wished her brother away and my father, the goblin king at the time, found her."

"And what happened?" Sarah was intrigued. The book was another thing that made her question whether the whole thing was real or not. Was she inspired by the labyrinth to make her firey toys or a Ludo doll? Or did she make the world up?

"She won, just like you." He said. "But she chose to stay with my father. They had actually met prior to that."

They felt the air thicken again with the unspoken questions about Sarah's and Jareth's feelings. So Jareth decided to change the subject once again.

"I still don't understand, but it could be that you're in a different time period too and not just a different dimension of me if you see the book in a brand new condition."

"Toby said he was reading the book the day he disappeared. I don't know how he could've gotten it! None of this makes any sense!" Sarah's voice rose. "Is this an illusion or is this all real? Where am I? Are you even here?" She looked at him accusingly.

"It's possible that Toby is being tricked with illusions of my goblins and the book was the answer." He said calmly. "And Sarah, I swear to you that I am real. Trust me." He took one of her hands as if to prove to her that he was. "I don't know what I can do to prove it, but I said this before and will say it again. You are NOT alone. I am here with you and I will protect you. And we WILL get Toby back."

She shook her head. "You're doing too much for me and for him."

"Oh Sarah." He said softly. "I have turned my world upside down for you. I would do it again willingly."

He tipped her chin up to him. Sarah's eyes gleamed with unshed tears. But there was hope in them too. And in his, sincerity and the utmost regard for her.

"You would?" She asked softly.

Jareth nodded, not trusting his voice to speak. She was so beautiful, her green eyes shining like a pale jewel.

Before the moment could go on, he let go of her chin and began to stride to the other room. "Come, we have this whole damn house to study."

Sarah froze. Then she trotted after him. She could feel that they were about to kiss but he stopped for some reason. In any other situation, she'd feel slighted but they had a time limit and a very real danger after them.

The question was not if something would come after them.

But when.

She tried to calm her racing heart as they approached a sitting room.

"What do you see?" She asked the king.

"Nothing." He said. "This room is bare with the wall paper being peeled off." He turned to her. "You?"

"It looks like a living room." She said. "The walls look nice with the paint still nice. There's two wooden chairs, a rocking chair, and a couch. Oh and there's a small table with a lamp on top."

"Describe the lamp." He put a finger to his lips in deep thought.

Sarah didn't know why he was interested in a lamp but knew better than to question him. "It looks, new? New but old styled. Like it needs to be lit by a flame or something instead of electricity."

Jareth looked around. "I see no evidence of any electrical outlets on the walls so I assume that this house has been abandoned for some time."

He put a protective hand on Sarah's elbow. "Let's go to the back, then upstairs."

Sarah felt her heart both speed up and slow down at his touch. She was attracted to him, that was for sure. But more than that, she felt completely safe. Comforted. At peace. She never felt that way with any of her exes. Even when Jareth scared her, she knew that he would never hurt her.

They approached the kitchen. There, they noticed something odd.

As usual, Jareth saw nothing. All evidence of an old place that was left to be abandoned. "Bleh, it looks so gross." He commented. "All this dust and mold is going to make me sick."

For some reason, Sarah found that almost endearing. Not the grossness, but how he reacted to it. There was something about seeing someone's little quirks that made them more relatable. More personable. More human. Even if Jareth wasn't human.

"It looks to me like a normal, 19th century home." She said. "Hey, there's still dishes on the table."

She went to inspect it. Indeed, it was as if whoever was living there decided to just go to bed instead of doing the dishes.

"Be careful about touching anything." Jareth warned her.

Sarah gave a nod to let him know she heard him. It seemed that the bits of food on the plate still seemed pretty fresh, as if it was left there a few hours ago. She could even smell that it had been some kind of chicken.

A realization hit her. She turned around, Jareth's cape swirling around her. Her eyes widened and it alarmed the king. "The plates still have food on it, and it looks fresh."

Jareth unfolded his arms and tilted his head to look up. "So that means-"

"Whoever lived here is still here, at least in my dimension." Sarah bit her bottom lip. "Shit."

Jareth took a shuddering breath. "It frustrates me that whatever could be up there could be left to you to face alone. I can do little to help."

Sarah exhaled. "It's my fault. I came when you told me not to and now I'm just something for you to worry about. If I get hurt, then it's my own fault, don't worry." She tried to give him a brave smile, but failed when she saw Jareth's face look at her in an almost angry expression.

"How dare you say that?" He said incredulously. "Yes, maybe you should've stayed behind but you just wanted to save your brother. I cannot fault anyone for that. But to not worry about you? Sarah, do you think that I think so lowly of you?"

Sarah scrunched her nose. "You literally said not that long ago that you'd rather be in hell than stuck with me."

"Because you were pissing me off." He pinched his nose. "Why do you always assume the worst?"

"You really don't know why?" She threw her hands in the air. "Think of how you treated me 7 years ago. And then how you're arguing with me now!"

"You wanted me to be the villain and so I played as one for you." He said. "You wanted me to be romantic in your dreams, and I was. What the hell do you want from me?"

Sarah's flaming green eyes were about to yell at him until she heard a loud THUMP.

She paused and waited.

THUMP!

The second time, Jareth's head whipped up to look at the ceiling.

"I assume you heard that too?" Sarah raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes." He said in an even voice. "It seems we can hear it from both realms."

"What would that mean then?" Sarah asked.

"Not sure." He flicked his wrist to make a crystal, the first he had made in this house. It turned into a sword.

Sarah's eyes bulged as he handed it to her. "Do you know how to use one?"

Sarah took it from him and clasped it around her waist. "I joined a fencing class in college but I've never used a real sword before."

Jareth gave her a few tips and a crash course on how to hold one. "This is my sword. It has magic embedded into it and should hurt whatever demon would be after you."

He leaned back against the wall with his usual smug face, but Sarah saw otherwise. Beads of sweat were gathering on his forehead and she could see that he looked paler even in the moonlight.

"Jareth?" She walked closer to him. "You okay?"

He gave a pained nod. "Using magic here is draining. I hope that sword would be sufficient, and hopefully we won't even need it."

He looked at the staircase. "Shall we go up?"

Sarah's heart pounded so hard in her chest that she was surprised that Jareth couldn't hear it. The thought of going to face some crazy supernatural demon scared the living daylights out of her. Or to encounter some family that could be here. If there WAS even a family. As Jareth said, only he could be trusted as something that was real.

Going upstairs made her feel trapped, suffocated. It would be even harder to escape now than before.

She nodded. "The sooner we get this shit done and over with, the better."

Neither said anything as they ascended the steps. The tension from earlier still hung over them about her time in the Labyrinth. She still had answered questions and Jareth still had whatever misgivings he had towards her from then.

She felt his hand protectively hold onto her elbow. Funny, no matter how angry he seemed, he would make sure she was fine. She wondered if he did all those things in the labyrinth to just scare her rather than actually putting her in danger. He easily could've hurt her if he wanted to.

Jareth still couldn't believe he was here. He had hoped that if Sarah called for him again (for he was always sure that she would), they wouldn't be meeting in this kind of situation. He hadn't been able to watch over her or speak to her. Not that he would've watched over her unless she was in a public space, he was a seductive man, not a creepy person who would invade someone's privacy. Instead, he found that Toby was hurt. He found children to be a tough situation for him for he wanted to save all of them, but save all of them was something he could not do unless he had some connection to them or was asked to help. Toby was also barred from his protection until Sarah called as the child hadn't called for him either.

He hated how he kept being cold to Sarah, but it was in his nature to. He was a good king, but an impatient one who could be cruel. Cruel as in being an asshole, not hurting anyone. This girl, no, woman. She bewitched him somehow. She meant a great deal to him yet annoyed the hell out of him in the same vein.

Probably just as much as he was annoying her, he thought with amusement.

 _Goblin King._

Jareth's hand gripped tight onto Sarah's arm. His champion gave him a strange look. "Jar-"

"Shh." He hushed her.

 _Goblin King._

There it was again. He turned to Sarah but she had a blank look on her face. Clearly, only he could hear whatever the hell that was.

"It is I you speak to." Jareth called out to the abandoned hallway. "Show yourself."

 _The Master Bedroom. Please come in._

Both of them jumped at the bedroom door at the end of the hallway opening by itself.

"Did that door just open for you too?" Sarah asked him. She tried to be fearless and brave. For Toby, she kept chanting to herself.

"Yes it did." Jareth said. "Did you hear something talk to me?"

Sarah shook her head. "No. Should we go in? It could be a trap."

"This whole damn house is a trap." Jareth shivered. He let go of Sarah's hand and slid it around her waist, out of the way of his cape. To ground himself and her. Being near each other seemed to help.

Sarah didn't question his arm around her. It kept her sane, weirdly enough. She did feel him shiver though, so maybe this was for him to feel protected with her around too.

She drew her sword out. Jareth gave her a questioning look and she shrugged. "Just in case."

The king smiled at her though his smile didn't reach his eyes. "Good plan. I'll wait to do anything magical as to not drain myself."

They walked together as one being, stalking in the night to the end of the hallway. Time seemed to slow and the hallway seemed to be longer and longer.

They reached the bedroom door. They looked at each other and went in at the same time.

Sarah screamed, Jareth's eyes went large and he held her close to his body to shield her.

Both saw the most frightening thing they had ever seen in their lives.


	7. Chapter 7

**TRIGGER WARNING: Don't know if you really need this but there will be some gore. Think Stranger Things for a reference. Also, I have no idea how my style of writing is when it comes to suspense/horror/mystery to be completely honest. I have very little experience at that lol and I hope it's okay! I'm trying my hand at it here but again, fan fiction is just for fun for me. Would love any tips from you guys!**

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Sarah clung onto Jareth as if her life depended on it. She looked around and saw nothing that could hurt her immediately which was good, but what lay on the bed in front of her said otherwise.

There were two people on it, a mother and a daughter it seems. Both dressed in white nightgowns normal for 19th century clothing.

Both were very, very dead.

Their eyes were opened and were staring up with their mouths opened. Their throats were slit and fresh blood oozed out. It wasn't a normal slice though, not by a knife. It looked like some animal had eaten them alive. To Sarah's horror, she realized that their eyes were opened because their eyelids were ripped away from their faces.

Their clothes were bloodied and their hands had black marks on them. It was clear that there had been a fight, a terrible fight that didn't end so well. The most terrifying thing though, was that the girl had scratch marks at the corners of her mouth that made it almost look like an eerie smile. She had in her hand a small stuffed teddy bear that was covered in blood and its head was chopped off.

Sarah buried her face in Jareth's shoulder and hugged his body close to hers. He smelled of peaches and spices, calming her down from the terrifying scene. She felt one of his arms around her waist, grabbing her tight and the other on the back of her head.

As for Jareth, he backed up against the wall from seeing something entirely different.

Like all the other rooms, to him this one was also empty and abandoned. No furniture, nothing there.

Except for what was standing in front of them. There was a little girl, who looked to be about 7 or 8 years old staring at him. She had on a white nightgown and was clutching a teddy bear.

Her neck had a large hole in it with blood leaking out. Scratches on the corners of her mouth made her mouth seem large with an unearthly smile. Her dress had splotches of blood on it. She was also see-through, so he assumed she was a ghost.

But her eyes. Oh her eyes.

They had no eyelids and were permanently open. They looked at him curiously and she slowly glided towards them.

"Halt right there." He said in a commanding voice, though a bit shaky. He had never dealt with the dead before and he HATED anything supernatural. He figured Sarah saw her too and was feeling the same way. "Were you the one who called for me?"

The girl nodded. "I did. I called for you to save me but you never came."

Jareth frowned. "What? I come now."

"Not when we died." She patted the teddy bear.

Jareth's eyes flickered from the girl to Sarah. He moved his hands to her shoulders and pushed her back a little so she could see into his eyes. "Sarah?"

"Do you see them too?" She said in a panicked whisper. "Or is it just me?"

Jareth looked at the girl again, who was now on the floor playing with her bear. He looked back at Sarah. "I think we're seeing something different. What did you see?"

Sarah clutched at his shirt and he let her. He held her by the hips to steady her. "Sarah?"

"A m-mother and a daughter. Dead. Throats slit and eyelids torn apart." Sarah held back a sob and refused to turn around to face the grotesque scene. "The mother looked like she was trying to protect her little girl. They look newly dead. I can smell the blood still."

She pressed her cheek to his bare chest where his shirt was opened. "Jareth, they look like they just died. I'm scared."

Jareth held her again, rocking them back and forth. "I'm scared too."

He felt Sarah snort a little. "You're supposed to say everything will be alright."

"Well that too." He chuckled a little at her attempt at humor. "I'm just being honest. And as for me, I see the girl too. But she's speaking to me."

Sarah shifted in surprise. "What?"

"I believe you're seeing the past, whereas I'm seeing the present." He said to her. "I see the girl, in spirit form."

Sarah nodded. "Talk to her, do what you have to do."

He moved his head so he was looking at the girl again. "Why are you here? What do you mean I didn't save you?"

"Momma believed in goblins." She said. "She tried to wish for them when the monster came, but she couldn't finish her wish."

Jareth scrunched his nose. He would've remembered an incident as this for even if she didn't complete the wish, she started and the goblins would've told him. Then it hit him. "Do you know what year you died, young lady?"

"1870." She said.

"So before I was a king, when my father was still ruling." Jareth said more to himself than to anyone else. "Do you know of a boy here? I am looking for someone."

The girl looked at Jareth with the gravest of facial expressions. She lifted up her sleeves and Jareth breathed in sharply at what he saw.

Marks were on her arms. Not black marks like what Sarah saw, but the same green marks that were on Sarah the day before. How they were on the soul of a little girl was beyond him.

"Toby is my friend." She said to the king. "I take care of him."

"Toby." Jareth breathed. This spirit girl was shielding Toby. Now they were getting somewhere.

"Toby?" Sarah looked at him curiously.

"Precious, I think we're going to find him soon." He smiled an early victorious smile. "Let me speak to the girl a little more."

"Okay." Sarah played with the strings on Jareth's shirt to calm herself down.

He cleared his throat and faced the girl. "Where is Toby now?"

The girl pointed out the door. "That way. With the monsters. They will trick you. I must go, to protect him."

And with that, she disappeared.

Jareth groaned. Now they were stuck again.

He told Sarah what had transpired. She sucked in a breath and slowly eased her grip on him. She checked her watch. "Assuming the time is still correct even in this weird dimension thing, we've been here for two hours. It's midnight now."

She grabbed her fallen sword. "Let's get those bastards and save Toby."

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 **I hope you guys are liking the Jareth and Sarah interactions! Maybe they're slowly starting to warm up! But don't get too comfortable yet, they'll be assholes to each other soon enough!**


	8. Chapter 8

**This chapter will be based (creepily enough) on a nightmare that I had. I'll explain more of it at the end of the chapter. As for the creepiness of the last chapter, I promise I can't come up with this stuff by myself lol, it's always something I've read or seen. Nothing wrong with being able to come up with that stuff by yourself at all, I just wanted to let you all know that I can't take all the credit for coming up with this stuff and that a lot of stories have us taking ideas from others and shape them into our own. I mean the idea was definitely mine but it was inspired by true crime or paranormal shows.**

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"Um, what the shit just happened?" Sarah gripped Jareth's bicep tighter than she had meant to, but the king found that he didn't mind.

Their situation though, THAT he did mind.

The hallway, once a normal hallway in an old house, was now impossibly long. They couldn't see the staircase anymore and there were rooms all along the hallway. Hundreds of rooms.

"What the shit is correct." Jareth growled. He turned to Sarah. "What do you see?"

"A ridiculously long hallway." She said. "There's carpet underneath me and weird lights coming from some of the rooms."

"Fantastic." Jareth sighed.

"Was sarcasm or seriousness?" Sarah shot a look at him.

"Both." The king said. "We are seeing the same thing but I have no clue what that even means. Or how to find Toby."

This was so different from the labyrinth. At least, even if it was confusing, she had a clear goal in mind to make it to the center. Here, she had Jareth on her side instead of her adversary and he was as lost as she was. Sarah felt tears coming to her eyes again but she shook them off. She was done feeling lost and hopeless in this horrid place. She was done feeling fear and was NOT going to be a distraction to Jareth. She had a mission to save Toby and she will do it.

"We can't check every room, that'll take way too long." Sarah murmured. "We need a strategy, to think this through logically."

"What is the term you humans use?" Jareth tilted his head. "Oh yes, 'thanks, Captain Obvious.' We already know we need to find a strategy."

Sarah turned to glare at him but found that he was smirking at her, not really angry or annoyed at her.

"You're terrible, did anyone tell you that?" She sent him a glare.

"I've been called worse." He winked. "And you, my dear, are absolutely delightful when you get angry. You have a flame in you that is unmatched by anyone."

Sarah had no idea what to respond to that. "Uh, thank you? Was that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?"

"Depends on how you look at it." He winked again.

That train of thought was interrupted by shrieking, then some sobbing. " _SARAH_!"

"Oh my god!" Sarah started to run, but Jareth held her back.

"Let me go!" She tried to yank herself from him but he was too strong. "That was Toby's voice!" She struggled some more but he held on tighter. "You're going to bruise me!"

"Sarah, I can't have you just running out there like that!" He yelled.

"But we need to hurry to find Toby as soon as we can!" She tried to pull away even more but Jareth still didn't relent.

"Sarah, they could be tricking you, remember?" He begged her to stop. "We can't just run randomly."

"Then we should take a chance." She stopped fighting him but Jareth still didn't let go. Though he did ease his grip. "What other plans do we have?"

Jareth sighed. "Fine. If you hear his voice again, you tell me. Don't run from me, alright?"

Sarah was about to argue but seeing his face she was reminded that she needed to keep her emotions in check. She nodded. "Alright."

They walked through the hallway, waiting to hear a voice, a sound, anything. They turned around and saw that the master bedroom was now gone.

Now, the hallway stretched forever on both sides.

Sarah rubbed her wrist subconsciously where Jareth had gripped her. She pulled back her sleeve and saw a nasty purple bruise on it. She winced. She wasn't sure what she was feeling towards him, but the fact that he could hurt her, well, it scared her.

She flinched when Jareth wordlessly took her bruised wrist and whispered some incantations. Instantly, the bruise and the pain faded away.

"I'm sorry for hurting you." He said mournfully. "I forget that humans aren't as strong as we are."

"It's not your fault." Sarah mumbled, though she felt elated. "You just wanted to protect me."

"Yes, but Sarah, I never would hurt you. Not on purpose." He couldn't meet her eyes. "I get angry and rash but I've never gripped someone to the point of bruising unless it was self defense. I feel awful."

Sarah stopped walking and put a hand on his arm. "Hey, you stop that."

Jareth still refused to meet her eyes in shame but she tilted his chin to her. "You said that humans are weaker, that's understandable. You just wanted to keep me safe and treated me like I was your own kind. Please don't beat yourself over this. No harm done." She gave him a small smile.

Jareth couldn't help but smile back. She had such a beautiful smile. "Thank you, Precious."

They walked a bit in silence before Jareth spoke again. "They were illusions."

"Pardon?" Sarah turned to him.

"The cleaners, the snake I threw at you, all illusions." He said. "The Bog was not though but I would've made sure you didn't fall in. I did all of that to intimidate you as is my job as king. To shape the labyrinth to fit you so you'd prove your worthiness to win your brother back."

Sarah gave a small nod. "Yeah, that makes sense. Why take babies in the first place? You know I didn't mean to wish him away."

"It's how things are done." He shrugged.

"Doesn't mean they should be." She shrugged back at him.

"Are you really going to lecture me about my own damn job?" He gave her the side eye.

"Everyone should be under scrutiny once in a while." She said. "It's always good to stop and think about what you're doing and why." She thought about how he asked her what her basis for comparison is and got mad again. "Or does that only apply to others and not yourself?"

"For Bog's sake, I just wanted to tell you what happened back then and now you're going off a tangent! And I don't even have to explain explain anything!" He huffed in exasperation.

"How generous." Sarah spat. "All I did was ask you a damn question and you went full on asshole on me."

"For the RECORD, I cannot control goblins taking children when they are wished away." He snapped. "It is a magic embedded in them from the beginning of time. You cannot tell a human to stop eating any more than tell a goblin to not take a child that was wished away."

"So then what the hell do you do with a baby? What would you have done with Toby? Turn him into a goblin?" Sarah shot him an ugly look.

"Ridiculous notion." Jareth rolled his eyes. "Children are turned into immortals and then taken to a family for adoption as most of us are infertile due to our longevity. As for Toby, I would have turned him into my heir."

He folded his arms. "You assume too much, Sarah. Nothing is as it seems, did you not learn this?"

Sarah shook her head. "Look, you asked me earlier what I wanted from you. I don't want dreams anymore, because I want what's real."

She gestured around her. "This place freaks me out, both of us out, because we don't know what's real except each other. I don't know you, Jareth. I don't know who YOU are. I don't understand you or what you want."

Her shoulders sagged. "I just want to understand. Maybe I do have assumptions but it's because you don't tell me anything."

Jareth quieted. They walked in silence, inspecting the walls and anything that seemed different, but their minds were thinking of each other. Jareth had to admit that Sarah had some valid points, but he was a solitary king. He didn't really go around telling everyone everything there was to his kingdom. But Sarah though, she was special. But was he ready to tell her anything?

 _Goblin Queen._

Sarah's head snapped up. She put a hand on Jareth's shoulder to stop him. The king stopped with her.

 _Goblin Queen._

"I assume you didn't hear that?" Sarah looked at him.

Jareth shook his head. "No, nothing. What is it saying?"

 _Step down from the throne, or you will pay the price._

Sarah drew out her sword. Jareth put his hands up into a fighting position at seeing her get ready. He unclenched his fists to get ready to throw magic at someone.

Sarah saw a flash of green light. She stepped in front of Jareth and using her instincts, she brought her sword up to deflect the magic aimed at them.

Another blast came at her but this time she wasn't able to deflect it. It hit her shoulder and she flew right into Jareth.

"Sarah!" Jareth was about to conjure a crystal but Sarah tackled him onto the ground right as another wave of green flew past them.

 _Surrender to us._

"I don't even know what you're talking about!" Sarah yelled. What the hell did that even mean? Goblin Queen? She looked over to Jareth and wondered if he did not tell her everything.

She saw the air shimmer then stop. She didn't see anything different and was about to open her mouth when she felt Jareth grab her by the waist and slung her over his shoulder.

"Jar-!"

"NO TIME!" He screamed and ran into the first room he could reach. Once inside, he locked it but he doubt it would do any good for long. "Shit, now we're stuck."

"Can you PLEASE put me down?" Sarah didn't like how her ass was up in the air and she was upside down, trying to not let her center of gravity push her over Jareth's shoulder.

Jareth put her down. They both scanned the room and saw doors on both sides of the room. No windows.

 _Goblin King!_

Jareth head that loud and clear. He had no idea what Sarah saw or heard, but once again, they weren't seeing or hearing the same things unless the other person got hurt.

The door started to rattle and both of them jumped.

 _Give us your champion, and we will let you go._

"Not a damn chance." Jareth said through clenched teeth.

Sarah couldn't hear what Jareth was hearing but this didn't sound good. "Are they in the room or out?"

"Out." Jareth said.

 _You can have your heir or the girl. Not both._

Sarah watched Jareth's face twist into some confusion. Whatever he was hearing, it was clear that it didn't make any sense to him at all.

Jareth growled. "You will give us the boy."

 _You think you can command us? You are no longer in your realm or the human realm. You are in ours. We will do what we want._

The door rattled again.

"What now?" Sarah asked him.

"You can see the door moving?" Jareth asked her.

"Yeah." She said. Taking a chance, she went to one of the doors perpendicular to the one that lead to the hall. She opened one of them and saw that it lead to another room.

With another door at the end of THAT room.

She ran to the other door of the room they were currently in and pulled it open. Same thing.

"Jareth!" She pointed to the doors. "Let's get going."

The king realized what she was going for. It wasn't much to go by but if they were going to buy some time away from those creatures, then they should go.

Trying to throw them off course, Sarah opened one of the doors and closed the one that they decided to go through. After going through what felt like a million rooms in one direction, they decided to go through the hallway and go into another room right across.

Green and yellow lights eerily filled the rooms and the hallway, coming from nowhere in particular. The carpet was a deep red and there were taxidermic animals on the wall, staring at them with gaping mouths opened.

Sometimes, she would hear Toby's scream coming from nowhere and everywhere. But no matter where they went, he couldn't be found.

 _You can run, but you can't hide for long._

"I heard that." Sarah told Jareth. "And we have three hours left."

She was trying ever so hard to not shake. Not only were they stuck in some creepy building, they had no way out with all these illusions. Everything kept on changing. The rooms, the hallway started to snake around, everything was moving. She couldn't see those creatures, but from what Jareth told her, they were the guardians of the Overground. They were essentially zombies, slow moving and would infect them to be zombies as well if they were bitten. They could be destroyed by magic and fire, but with Jareth's magic limited.

"How about we stay in one room and let them come to us?" Sarah asked him. "We can set them on fire and fight them with this sword." She turned to look at him. "Jareth?"

Jareth collapsed and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Give me a moment, Sarah. It's all I ask."

Sarah noticed his face was flushed and his eyes were constricted instead of dilated in the dark as they should be. His breathing was shallow and beads of sweat dotted his face.

There was no time for pleasantries. She reached over and touched his forehead with the back of her hand and gasped. "Jareth, you're heating up."

"Funny, I feel so cold." He shuddered a little.

Sarah took off his cape and wrapped it around him. Instantly, Jareth started to look better but still weak.

Sarah's migraine and the overwhelming evil feelings came back in full force. After a few seconds, it lessened enough but it was still there. "Holy shit, my head hurts."

"You shouldn't have done that." Jareth said roughly, glaring at her. "I gave you this cape for a reason."

"What?" Sarah could barely comprehend what he was saying.

"The cape has protection from magical spells, similar to my pendant." He tried to put it on her but the clasp refused to work. "Damn it Sarah! Accept my cape! It won't be put on you until you allow it to."

"No!" Sarah yelled at him. Well, it was a whisper but it seemed like a yell for they were still trying to keep quiet. "Jareth, I can't do that. Don't you understand?"

"Stop trying to play heroine all the damn time!" He bore his eyes on her, trying to scare her into doing what he said. "Just put the damn cape on."

"You're weak, you're hurt." Sarah's voice was strained. "You need it more than I do." Why couldn't HE understand that for some crazy reason, within few hours, she had already grown to care deeply for him?

She supposed this is what happens when you break out of jail and go through a creepy haunted house together.

"Well look at you. Now you care about being noble with me." He got up and walked passed her. "Prior to this, my life has meant so little to you."

"You're doing it again." Sarah put her head in her hands. When was he going to stop being a dramatic little bitch? "You say I assume things but here you are, assuming that I care nothing for you."

"YOU CARED SO LITTLE THAT YOU BROKE ME!" He screamed.

"I was LOOKING FOR TOBY!" Sarah screamed back. "Just as I am now! You think this is all about you?!"

She couldn't believe him. What the hell?

He was visibly shaking now. His face bore all the signs of the deepest hatred. Scrunched eyebrows, tight lips, wild look, breathing hard and fast, fist clenched, and body all around tense. And Sarah would have believed so, had she not seen the look on his eyes.

They held all the sadness in the world. They held cruelty but also adoration. For her.

"I was tossed aside like nothing." He choked out. "The dwarf betrayed you multiple times, and you forgave him every time. The Fire Gang tried to rip your damn head off, and you let them come to your room to stay with you. No, you INVITED them to come. You selfishly wished your brother away and you took him back because you were worthy enough and loved him enough to do it."

He placed his hands on the wall. Jareth couldn't believe that he was crying, crying in front of Sarah. On one hand, it was the worst time ever and he felt stupid. On the other hand, he found that no matter how much his pride would have wanted him to hate showing his true feelings, he didn't mind it as much because it was Sarah.

"But then there was me." He said softly. "You wanted me but pushed me away. I did my duty to taunt you and to distract you. Then you dreamed of dancing. Not with just anyone, but with me. And so I danced with you. I watched as you looked for me but refused to acknowledge it until I was between two women. Only then did you decide that I was worth something to you. Because someone else found me worth it."

He sniffed again. "I didn't realize at the time that you didn't exactly wanted me. You wanted the idea of me, of a man who could offer you dreams. A king. I know what I did was wrong, to push you away and not explain myself. But now you're older. Now you want something else, but I don't know what."

He wiped his tears off and gave a humorless laugh. "Come, we should go before they find us. Buy ourselves some time to come up with a plan. I liked the one of staying in one room though."

He walked to the next room and Sarah trotted after him. He had not looked into her face the whole time. The pain deep in him was starting to show, he knew. And he had just poured his heart out to her.

His kind were not a kind to be sharing their emotions as much, especially in his family. They were seen as a weakness. Strangely, even though he knew that Sarah probably still scorned him, he felt lighter in being able to tell her. He felt less guilt and he felt a little freer, no matter what his champion decided to do. It was something he had learned from interaction with humans, to be a little more open with emotions. To show some happiness in dancing and the arts. Emotions are what made life colorful, made them worth it. Even with all the pain that comes with it.

He felt a small hand on his shoulder and a sigh. Jareth closed his eyes. "Sarah, I don't want pity." His voice came out hard and cold. Though, he didn't move the moment she touched him.

Sarah ignored his coldness. How could she not? He had more or less told her what about her was bothering him. She still had no idea why he cared so much about her especially when he knew her for only a few hours when they first saw each other. But even under his coldness, his threatening fire, he was gentle with her and was a force to be reckoned with. He took care of her even if he being annoying about it.

Slowly, she took her gloves off and put it in the belt by her sword. She didn't look at his eyes yet, but moved the hand that was on his shoulder to be placed on his chest, where his skin was exposed. She felt Jareth's breath stop at her touch. His skin felt warm and soft, but hard at the same time. She could feel the muscles underneath as she traced up higher to the side of his neck and to his face.

Jareth felt his whole body tingle at her touch. This girl, this moral girl, Sarah Williams, she was extraordinary in her own special way. Oh, he had courted many women in the past. But none have ever captured his attention like she did.

No one could ever measure up to Sarah.

Sarah's thumb rested on his cheekbone and her fingers traced the outer shell of his ear up to the pointy tip that set his fae race apart from humans. It was then that she really, truly looked into his eyes to see him. They weren't playful or flirty, but full of sincerity. And maybe she was reaching, but she could've sworn that she saw love.

She caressed his cheek a little and smiled at him. Jareth's hand came up and held the one that was touching his face. Also ungloved. He held her hand like it was life itself.

"Jareth." Sarah whispered. "I don't feel pity for you. I feel so many things but pity isn't one of them." She reached up with her other hand to touch the other side of his face.

"Then, Precious." Jareth's voice was thick and his eyes looked at her pleadingly. "What do you feel?"

Sarah hesitated for only a second. She glanced away then looked back at him with renewed courage. It felt like opening Pandora's box. Anything bad could happen to them, all the awful things of the world could. And it would take her a long time to mend if she broke.

But, even in Pandora's box, she had hope at the bottom. And so did Sarah.

Sarah moved just a bit closer. Their chests were almost touching. So close.

"About 7 years ago." She twirled a strand of his long, feathery hair on her finger. "Someone sang a song for me. And in that song were the lyrics 'in search of new dreams, a love that will last.'"

Jareth chuckled a little. "Did he now? I thought you wanted something real, not dreams." He said teasingly.

Sarah moved even closer. Now her lips were only a breath away from his. "Yes, but I now understand that dreams are more than just that. Dreams can become reality."

She rubbed her lips against his. "And I think, Jareth, if you still want me, I'd like you to be my new dream."

Jareth's eyes were soft like a candle flame. But like a candle, it held fire. "Precious, you were and are my new dream too."

He leaned his head down to kiss her. Both closed their eyes and wrapped each other's arms around their waists, lips were about to touch…

When a dark shadow appeared in the room and spoke to them.

 _"So, have you chosen who will live and who will die?"_

* * *

 **basically one of my biggest nightmares is of me being in some building or house, lost and trying to get out but can't. Which really sucks since the health sciences building at my university is like 6 stories high and it's HUGE and confusing like that so I deal with this nightmare daily, lol. I also HATE being chased. It's just the waiting, the anticipation and anxiety about getting caught. I know that isn't the scariest thing for some people but it is for me (to be chased forever and ever without an exit in sight). Thanks for reading and please leave a review!**


	9. Chapter 9

Neither let go of each other. Jareth kept a steady grip on Sarah's hips, careful to be gentler than he would be on a fae to not bruise her again. Sarah also kept her arms on his waist and moved closer to his protective embrace.

It was tall, maybe about 7 feet high and its feet were floating off the ground. Calling it a shadow was probably inaccurate, for while it moved like a shadow and blended in with the dark, Sarah could very much see that it was red and faceless. Its hands seemed to have horns on its fingers.

 _Goblin King and Champion. Enough games. Which of you will die?_

"Neither." Sarah tried to be as brave sounding as she could. If she was to die, she would die with a fight. "We did not come here to produce casualties. Where is my brother?"

"What use do you have of the boy?" Jareth interjected. "What business do you have with him?"

 _He holds magic in him. Magic that your realm and kingdom has bestowed upon him. He can rule the Overground as king. As one of us._

"I won't let you!" Jareth reached over and took Sarah's sword in his hand, pushing her behind him for safety. "He will die!"

 _That's because the king of the Overground must be dead, Your Majesty._ He crooned. _And you will be powerless to stop him when your queen steps down from the throne._

Jareth made a confused face. Queen? He looked over at Sarah, who looked at him as if demanding an explanation from him.

"I'm no queen." Sarah frowned. "We are not here to discuss anything else but my brother. Let. Him. Go." She said through clenched teeth.

Jareth had to admit that though this was a terrifying situation, he had never seen her look more beautiful. Her hair was starting to come apart, her green eyes were ablaze, and her face was set with determination. She was brave and smart and this was why she had not only won his labyrinth but his heart.

 _You are._ The shadow said. _Many have won the Labyrinth, but not many remember to say the last words, do they, Goblin King?_

Jareth felt an ache in his chest at the memory of Sarah rejecting him. When she told him she had no power over him.

"What?" Sarah looked at the shadow.

 _By declaring that he has no power over you, you declared yourself his equal. Not just his champion, but worthy enough to be queen regnant and not just queen consort. Your powers have been hidden until last night, when you wished for him and once again connected yourself to his world. You may not be acting queen, but you are a queen._

Jareth's mind was working like gears. Things started to make sense now, pieces of a missing puzzle were starting to fall into place. Everything he had learned about the Overground had to do with creatures that were selfish, that refused to move on. Evil demons and monsters grew from that selfishness and hatred. Because of that, religious people from Aboveground along with witch doctors of sorts learned that faith in most anything would shoo them away. Some still stayed but it was mostly just lingering spirits and not for a very long time.

As for the Underground, magicians could only do so much. They decided to create a whole new world for the demons to stay. So long as no one opened the gates, little harm would be done and most spirits were annoying rather than evil.

Somehow, these spirits were able to be in the Aboveground with enough energy to get Toby to open that gate. With the amount of magic in Toby, if he becomes one of them, he would be able to take over their world. When he was with Jareth during his and Sarah's time during the Underground, Jareth had been so sure that Sarah would lose that he prematurely named Toby his heir. Toby would have claim in both the Over and Undergrounds.

And since Jareth had connections to the Underground and Aboveground as keeper of the realms and Lord of the Labyrinth, Toby would be able to take over the Aboveground as well.

And as for Sarah… If she truly was Jareth's equal, then with powers, then together, she and Jareth could stop the Overground creatures and Toby. Not just one of them, both of them.

Well, shit.

"We ask to know the boy and of his condition." Jareth said evenly. "We have no use for information from you that is irrelevant to us."

He hoped that by deflecting the conversation away from Sarah, he could keep her safe. This was why they wanted to kill either him or her, because with only one of them, they would be powerless. Together, they would win.

 _If it should convince your queen to step down, then we will show you._

The shadow drew a circle with its hands. Inside the circle, was Toby in a cage.

"TOBY!" Sarah barely restrained herself from shoving Jareth aside and running after him.

He looked awful. He had bruises and green cuts all over him, just like Sarah had. He was sleeping and singing to himself.

Then, he opened his eyes. They were completely black, full of evil. Sarah and Jareth could see that there was not one ounce of himself. He began to snarl and wail with an unearthly voice. Then, he fell back asleep whimpering.

A creature leaned over him. It crouched down like a person but it had matted fur like a wolf's. It turned around to face Jareth and Sarah.

Its eyes were bright orange, just like the ones that Sarah saw when she first was hurled away from the house.

"My baby brother." Sarah choked out. "No."

Then she and Jareth saw something interesting. The girl, the one that had been a ghost to appear to Jareth and the same one who Sarah had seen freshly dead appeared between Toby and the creature. The creature slashed forward to swipe at Toby but the girl stood in his stead. Sarah covered her mouth when she heard the girl whimper at being hurt, protecting Toby.

 _He is stronger than we have expected. He has no memory of anything that's happening to him but we WILL break him. If you abdicate from the throne now, we will spare your lives and his._ The shadow said. It glided over to Sarah and held its had out to her. _Join us, be our queen and we will spare the king and your brother._

Sarah looked at the vision of her baby brother. Deep, deep anger filled her. Hatred of the deepest kind filled her soul.

But also the greatest love and the greatest determination.

Jareth only a millisecond of warning when he saw her eyes glow purple.

She yanked the sword from Jareth and plunged it onto the floor with a warrior's cry.

The sword created a surge of energy akin to an earthquake. Cracks from the sword was expanding, light seeping through it. Jareth's pendant was latching itself onto her skin as the shadow tried to yank it away from her, burning her chest through her shirt and leaving a searing red mark.

Jareth held Sarah from behind through the magic coursing through her. "Sarah, focus on me!" He opened up his magical reservoir to absorb the energy from her.

Sarah couldn't stop screaming, as if someone had stabbed her and cut her heart out. Everything was gone from her mind, only the pain stayed. She was like a bomb and could hurt anyone who was close to her in this unstable state. Her world was falling down.

But somewhere, she could feel a pair of strong arms holding onto her. Arms that was fearless in being close to her. Arms that would risk anything for her.

"My world is falling!" She screamed to no one and everyone.

"I said I'll be here when it does, and I promise you, Sarah!" Jareth buried his face in the crook of her neck. "Focus on me, Precious!"

And then, the world did fall away from under them.

* * *

 **I can't bare to have Toby remember the torture that's been put on him so I decided to make it so maybe he remembers being kidnapped but after this whole ordeal is over, he won't remember the details. Idk maybe it's because I'm really sensitive to children but god I can't have him be that hurt! I prefer to have him kind of knowing what's happening is bad but again not deep details.**

 **This isn't done yet, there's still some stuff to get through. That would've been too easy for me**

 **Thank you all for reviewing my story! I appreciate Margot for reading even if you must use Google Translate. That's dedication and means a lot! I know my story has been creepy and I'M SO GLAD that it came out that way. Raven, I will check out the creepy pasta sometime! Bexi Lexi, glad that you're liking my story! Sorry if I missed anyone but I do read all the reviews!**

 **As always please let me know how you like this chapter. Not sure how many chapters this will be, maybe a few more? Thanks again everyone!**


	10. Chapter 10

Sarah slowly woke up. The first thing she noticed was that she was in a really, really comfortable nightgown. It felt quite soft and silky.

The second thing she noticed was how comfortable the bed was. _This isn't my bed_ , she thought. The room was beautiful with earth hues and the sunlight shone inside to illuminate the room.

 _Wait a minute._

She sat up too quickly and then promptly fell back, her body as limp as a noodle.

"Sarah!"

She recognized that gruff voice. "Hoggle?"

He was right beside her. "Oh Sarah! You're awake!" He looked relieved. "How ya feelin?"

Sarah put a hand to her head and smiled at her friend. "It's good to see you, Hoggle. I feel really weak, but okay."

She tried to recall why she was even there. Then her eyes widened as she remembered the shadow, Toby, the sword... And Jareth holding her close.

"Oh my god." She clasped her hand over her mouth. "Did I kill him?" Tears sprang to her eyes. She was a ball of energy and had no control of herself during that time.

"Him who?" Hoggle asked.

"Jareth." She said in a panicked voice. "Oh my god, what am I doing here? Where's Toby?!"

She tried to get up but started to fall again.

"You're too weak." Hoggle sighed. "And Jareth is okay. Didymus! Ludo!"

In walked a jittery fox and a gentle monster. Sir Didymus made a sweeping bow. "Oh, my lady!"

"Sir Didymus, Ludo." Sarah held her hands out to both of them.

"Sarah friend." Ludo pulled her into a hug.

"I missed all of you, I'm so sorry I couldn't call you." She said apologetically. "I hope you're well."

"Better than you are." Hoggle said with a smile. "Didymus, go tell the rat she's awake."

"On it my brother!" And the little knight trotted off.

"Oh Jareth, is he okay?" Sarah asked Hoggle again, not hearing his answer the first time.

"He's fine." Hoggle said. "I'm not sure all that happened but I'm sure he'll tell you. All I knew was that Lady Julia came to get all three of us and told us it was His Majesty's orders to watch over you after the court physician looked you over."

"Julia? Who's that?" Sarah asked.

"Me."

A beautiful woman was at the door. She had very fine blonde hair and striking, kind brown eyes. She eyed Sarah curiously and sat down next to her. She stuck her hand out at Sarah. "Jareth informed me that this is a common way humans greet each other, yes?"

Sarah smiled a little nervously but nevertheless shook the woman's hand. This lady was stunning. For a brief moment, she wondered if she was close to the king for she used his name freely.

"You're correct. It's nice to meet you." Sarah said. Aside from Jareth, Julia was the first fae Sarah had ever met. She was gorgeous and instantly, Sarah wondered how she herself captured Jareth's attention and if his attention would stay if there were women like this all around him. She shook her head to clear herself of those thoughts. "What time is it? Is my brother Toby here too? Is Jareth alright?"

Julia put her hands over Sarah's to comfort her. "It's about 8am, no, and yes. Or at least he's alright as much as he can be. He should be here soon-"

"SARAH!"

All four jumped at the booming voice. Jareth strode into the room, his eyes only for Sarah. "Oh thank god you're awake and alright." He breathed reverently.

Sarah felt her heart soar at his words. He looked at her adoringly and it was clear that he had been worried out of his mind for her. His eyes were shining for her, and her alone.

"Jareth!" Sarah tried to stand up but Ludo held her to the bed.

"Sawah weak." Ludo said.

"Yeah, don't get too excited. It's not like he's that important anyway." Hoggle said in a bitter voice but his eyes betrayed his amusement at the enthusiasm his king and his friend had for each other.

"Shut up, Hogwart." Jareth folded his arms.

"Hoggle!" The dwarf yelled at him.

"She's not the only weak one." Julia frowned at Jareth. She walked over to the king and placed both her hands on his face. "Your eyes are bloodshot and you feel unnaturally warm, Jareth dear."

Sarah felt her heart sink. Who was Julia? Why was she touching and talking to Jareth like that?

Jareth let out a displeased grunt and shoved her away. "I'm fine."

"You're being idiotic!" Julia tilted his head back and pulled an eyelid up. "When's the last time you slept? I heard you had a wished away then went on some mission. It's been, what, more than 30 hours that you've been awake?"

"You worry too much." Jareth folded his arms and gently shoved Julia away. "I have important things to do. More important than having you dote on me like a child."

"I just love you, you know that?" Julia said in a pained voice.

Sarah felt her heart crack and she gripped the sheets so hard she thought she was going to rip it apart. Why would she assume that Jareth would want her when he had so many beautiful women to choose from? Hell, he probably had a lot of lovers from how handsome he was.

Jareth's face softened at Julia. He held her face and kissed her forehead. "I love you too. You just drive me crazy."

"It's my job." Julia shrugged but there was a twinkle in her eye when he kissed her forehead.

Jareth walked over to Sarah. "Precious, how do you feel?"

Sarah refused to meet his eyes, feeling a bit betrayed. "I'm fine, I guess. Really weak. And worried about Toby, I can't get that image of him out of my head." She hugged her legs.

"That was no small feat you did back there." He brushed a hair from her face with a gloved hand but Sarah still refused to look at him.

Sarah glanced at Julia. To her surprise, the fae woman didn't look jealous at Sarah at all. She had on a worried but curious face at meeting her.

Jareth had no idea why Sarah was acting so cold towards him all of a sudden. That is, until he saw that she was looking at Julia.

Oh.

He smiled inwardly. He hadn't mean to make her feel jealous but now he was totally sure that she felt something for him too now that they were calmed down instead of in an intense situation. Back there, he wasn't 100% sure if she felt the same way or if she just wanted to cling to him because she had no one else.

He cleared his throat. "So, I see that you've met my sister."

Sarah met his eyes again. "Sister?"

"Oh, I'm sorry for not properly introducing myself. I thought Hoggle had told you." Julia looked at him. "Yes, the nuisance that's sitting next to you is my big brother."

"I'm still king." Jareth glared at her. "Hold your tongue."

"I'll do whatever I want with my tongue." Julia put her hands on her hips and stuck her tongue out at him.

"You're immature." Jareth rolled his eyes.

"Your hair is stupid." Julia taunted.

"Hey, leave the hair out of this." Jareth pouted.

Sarah giggled. She felt so foolish for thinking Jareth had betrayed her, and loved seeing him be put in his place by Julia. Sibling banter was something she didn't have with Toby because of the large age difference. Maybe when they're older they would.

At the thought of Toby, she started to tear up again.

Julia unfolded her arms and looked at Sarah. "Sarah?"

Jareth turned to see Sarah's eyes filled with unshed tears.

"Jareth, what's going on now? What happened? We need to get Toby." She hated looking so weak but she was tired. Physically, emotionally, and mentally. "And they probably know that I'm out of the jail cell right now, though that's the least of my worries."

Jareth hushed her and put his hands to cup her cheeks. "I made a promise to get him out safe. I've been working on a plan while you rested. You needed it." He brushed her bottom lip with his thumb.

He turned away from her but kept his hands on her face. "All of you, dismissed."

"But," Hoggle started.

"But what, Hogbrain?" Jareth raised an eyebrow as if threatening for Hoggle to question him.

"She hasn't eaten yet." Hoggle said. It was clear that he wanted to see Sarah some more as he and their other friends hadn't had a chance.

Jareth waved dismissively. "I will take care of her, I promise."

Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and Ludo shallowly shuffled out. "See ya, Sarah."

"See you." Sarah blew a kiss to them.

Hoggle had a victorious grin whereas Jareth was still frowning.

"You three!" The king called after them.

They all stopped. "Yes Sire?" Sir Didymus said bravely.

"You can visit Lady Sarah at a different time. Right now we have an emergency on our hands, understood?"

All of them looked at him with surprise. Usually he was not this considerate of their feelings. Jareth was one to do what needed to get done. They all nodded and shuffled out.

"You too." Jareth said to Julia. "Thank you for your help but I must discuss certain things with Sarah."

Julia saw that he went into his "king mode." She gave a small bow. "You know where to find me, Sire."

And she walked out the door too.

Sarah looked at the door curiously. "She's your sister, why did she call you Sire? And why is she Lady Julia and not Princess Julia?"

"I am her brother but I'm also king." Jareth said. "I normally have her call me as her brother but in certain situations, it is good to use titles to remind us of our roles. For now, I must be king and sovereign, not her annoying big brother." He said with a smile. "As for being a lady, she's my half sister. She's fairly young and is my mother's daughter from her second marriage after my father passed away and has no royal blood. She trained to become a physician and is learning from mine as he works to take care of multiple species. She started living in the castle about two years ago."

Sarah nodded. She realized that Jareth was still holding her face. She took his hands and held them in hers.

"So what's the plan for Toby now that it's daytime?" She asked him.

Jareth sighed. "You somehow used magic so strongly that it broke through the realm and destroyed the house. We landed in a pile of rubble. It was luckily around 4am so I barely had enough magic to transport us back to my castle. From there, we were both checked by my physician. Humans sometimes have magic but yours is unnaturally strong. We have yet to understand why but I'd like to give you a, what's the human term, oh crash course. Yes I'd like to give you a crash course on magic."

"If the house is destroyed, what will happen to finding Toby? It was our only option wasn't it?" Sarah may have asked this calmly, but Jareth could feel her pulse racing on her wrist.

"There is another way to go to that realm." He said, with almost difficulty. "There's a large portal here, Underground. Since this involves more than just Toby being taken, I'm going to hold an emergency council meeting today."

"Because it's going to hurt all of us." Sarah covered her mouth with her fist. "Oh god."

Jareth told her about his thoughts from the night before, how they wanted Sarah to step down from the throne. That way, they could eliminate Sarah easily. Somehow, the magic they both had was protecting them both.

"A queen?" She tried to calm her breathing. "What does that mean?"

"It means you can either give up the throne and I can rule as normal, be my co ruler, or I can step down and you can be queen." He saw a look on her face and gave her an answer to her unanswered question. "In case you're wondering, we don't have to be married to each other to be co rulers nor is there a time limit on this. That's something maybe we can look into later."

"Did you know any of this would happen?" She asked him harshly. "Did you know that Toby could be put in danger by you naming him as your heir or that they would target me too?"

"You really need to stop assuming that I'm out here to hurt you." He sighed sadly. The only reason he wasn't lashing back at her was because she had been through many, many things in the past few days. Their feelings for each other adding to the confusion.

Sarah looked down in shame. "I'm sorry, you're right. I guess I just, no matter how I feel about you, I have this fear still. And I don't know you. I don't really understand you." She gripped his hands even tighter. She scooted a little closer and looked into his face. "But I am willing to try."

Jareth knew that this was a second chance for him. Their hurdles were far from over, but anything worth it usually involved hurdles. "Me too. I'm sorry that I sowed seeds of doubt in you when you were last here in how I had acted. I meant every word I said back there, you know."

"Me too." Sarah placed her hands on his shoulders.

They didn't make a move to kiss, just stared at each other. In that moment of silence, looking into each other's eyes did more than words could, for eyes were the windows to the soul. Jareth still didn't understand how Sarah came to care so much about him so fast and Sarah still didn't understand how he had felt for her when she was in between a child and a woman.

But that would be dealt with later.

A knock on the door brought them out of their thoughts. Jareth turned to the door. "Yes?"

"Jareth, the emergency council is about to start." Julia said. "Everyone is there except for you."

"Thank you for informing me." He told his sister. "Could you give me and Sarah a couple more minutes? Oh, and please inform them that Sarah will be joining us and to give her the utmost respect."

"As my king commands." Julia said with a hint of teasing him before trotting off.

Jareth rolled his eyes. "She likes to make fun of me."

Sarah giggled and poked the side of his mouth. "It's really amusing. You get mad so easily."

"I do not." He huffed.

" _How about upping the stakes?_ " Sarah mocked him. "And all because a teenage girl responded to your bait."

Jareth's lips twitched into a smile. This girl, no, woman, she would always keep him on his toes.

He gestured to the closet. "There's some clothing for you. I will wait outside and escort you down to the council room when you're done. After that, maybe you can have some breakfast. My physician said that food may not sit well with you for a while."

When he went outside, Sarah took a brief moment to admire the lovely room. There was a balcony that lead outside, a large bathroom, and a bright vanity. Jareth didn't just plop her in any room but a place of luxury.

She took off her nightgown and saw a faint scar from Jareth's pendant still on her chest from when it seared into her. She winced at the thought of it. She did keep the pendant on her though. It was a part of Jareth and something that she liked to have on her. Remembering that she would be meeting with the council though, she tucked it inside the dress that he had given her for she didn't want any questions asked.

It was a purple dress cinched in the middle with a golden corset. The skirt and sleeves were had a see-through blue material that flared out from her hips. The collar was high and she was grateful for it so she could hide his pendant.

She opened the door. "I'm ready."

Jareth tried so hard to not gawk at her. The way the fabric was clinging to her waist and flared out at her hips... the queenlike appearance that she had drew him in. He offered his hand to her and kissed her knuckles. "My lady, you are gorgeous."

Sarah blushed. "Thank you. You're not so bad yourself." She winked at him.

She took Jareth's hand and they arrived in the council room.

Everyone stood tall when the king went to take his place at the front. Jareth signaled for Sarah to take her place directly at his right, a place for an honored guest.

Sarah felt a little nervous with all kinds of creatures around her, but luckily, none of them seemed adverse to her. Just curious. She looked across from her and saw that Julia's spot was directly in Jareth's left. The King's sister gave her a gentle smile and Sarah found herself smiling back.

Jareth held out his left hand. A scepter materialized in it. He tapped it on the floor 3 times and sat down. Once he sat, everyone else did too.

He made a crystal and set it down on the table. "To record our voices." He told Sarah. He looked at the council. "November 1st, year 113th of the reign of King Jareth. Today we have an emergency council meeting for we have a foe that could destroy the Underground and Aboveground."

Everyone looked at each other in shock. They glanced at Sarah curiously for she was the only person they did not know.

Jareth continued. "On October 30, a few days ago, there was a disturbance in a house that was deemed as haunted and abandoned by humans. In the North American continent, Toby Williams was abducted by creatures of the Overground and his sister, Sarah Williams, was propelled backwards by a force unknown to her." He gave a nod in Sarah's direction. "This is Sarah. She is also the only person who has ever bested me in my labyrinth during my time as king."

Everyone sat up a little higher in their seats to get a better look at her. Sarah felt the urge to shrink into her seat but she sat up straight. She did not give off the impression of arrogance but rather of confidence and modesty.

"She was seen with scratch marks on her body. I personally extracted them and had physician Aaron look over them. Physician?" He turned to the man who sat by Julia.

Physician Aaron was a short elf. Sarah noticed that all the other elves were tall and wondered if maybe he was half elf and half dwarf like Hoggle was. He cleared his throat and gave a nod to the king. "I was not able to directly examine Lady Sarah myself that first night. Studying the green liquid, it would slowly infect her and kill her."

"We have reason to believe that Toby, the Champion's brother, has been infected by the same substance." Jareth said. "My hands were blistered from touching them."

"We assume that it is more harmful to magical creatures than it is for Lady Sarah." Julia interjected. "As Toby seems to be doing better off than Lady Sarah, we have a hypothesis that maybe it also has to do with age. And the strange ghost girl that his Majesty has encountered probably has protected the boy too."

"What creature has done this?" A water sprite asked.

"In the Aboveground, they are known as the chupacabra." Jareth said. "They look almost lizard and doglike."

"Don't they usually feed on livestock?" A fairy asked.

"Yes, but they absolutely can hurt people." Julia said. "As to why, that is what we are discussing."

Jareth caught them all up on all he knew. He told them of how at first, it was a mission to bring Toby back. But now, it was clear that it was a bigger problem than just Toby's safety.

"What of Lady Sarah's Magic? What is the source of that?" The head of the guard asked. "No champion has been granted magical powers before. Not even the Queen Mother."

"That's something that is still a mystery." Physician Aaron said. "She is as powerful as a fae but with power that she doesn't really know how to use. She has all the signs of a changeling."

"Someone transitioning from a mortal to immortal." Jareth clarified for Sarah. "And what does this mean for her?"

"It means she will age as a normal human unless she lives Underground. I'm willing to bet that since you named young Toby your heir, he also may be a changeling."

"We need to sever his contact with the Underground." One of them said. "Then they would stop bothering us."

"That won't do." Jareth said. "They're blood thirsty creatures. If they don't have the boy, they will come for someone else."

"How about we kill the leader?" Sarah spoke for the first time. "If we can find out who it is, maybe we can stop this."

Jareth hummed in thought. Then he turned to a forest nymph. "You're an expert on Overground creatures. What do you know about them?"

"Honestly, no one quite understands all the creatures that well." The nymph replied. "It's difficult to study them when a lot of them are the undead. I can say that most spirits, for lack of a better term, do not cause harm. The ones that do are mostly out for themselves not working in a large group. Then again, nothing about this screams normality for them either and it is a theory worth looking into."

"The shadow thing." Sarah turned to Jareth. "It kept saying 'us.' Maybe it's like a beehive where all the workers have the same mind and are controlled by a queen. Take out the queen and the workers are still there but cannot coordinate some kind of attack."

"It's only a theory but the best one we have to go by." Jareth's eyes sparkled a little at her. She was thinking everything thoroughly even if she wasn't saying much. "Any suggestions from anyone on how to find the queen?"

"We could send a few people down to another portal to the realm of the Overground, perhaps?" Julia suggested. "To explore it a little to understand what's happening."

"We'd have to wait until twilight for that." The water sprite said.

"Meanwhile we should all be prepared." Jareth said. "Have every monarch Underground be notified."

"Is that really necessary, Your Majesty?" Julia asked. "The only portals to the Overground are in the Goblin Kingdom and in the Aboveground."

"It doesn't hurt to keep them guarded." Sarah agreed with Jareth. "We have no idea how quickly or how far they will go. What will we do about the Aboveground?"

"They like to feed off of people there, like their fears but are not usually after humans specifically as they are without magic." The guard said. "Besides, humans can open the portals from anywhere."

"Like what? You don't mean tarot cards or ouija boards do you?" Sarah asked incredulously. She never dabbled with those things but was always a skeptic.

"Exactly those things." Jareth confirmed. "The objects themselves do nothing but the faith and magic involved can open the gates. It doesn't work every time, it depends on the human of course for every being has a certain level of magic in them. Some more than others." He turned to his general. "I do want the Aboveground monitored for a large surge of energy. Find whatever magicians you can and place at minimum of one to preside over every human continent." He placed 7 chess pieces on the world map.

"Yes sire." The general bowed his head.

"I want the entire kingdom under lockdown. If some human happens to wish a child away, I need someone to take my place and to guard the labyrinth so nothing happens to them."

Everyone wrote their notes down of the king's orders. Usually Jareth would be more lighthearted and in a teasing mood, often being sarcastic. The fact that he was dead serious scared all of them.

"Any other immediate concerns?" Jareth asked the council. "If not, we will take a break and will convene in one hour to discuss our plan of attack now that we have already discussed defensive tactics."

No one said anything. Jareth gave a single nod. He faced the recording crystal. "Meeting is dismissed and we will meet exactly one hour from now." He tapped his scepter on the floor three times.

He stood up and everyone followed suit. Sarah approached Jareth. "Hey, I have a question to ask you but can we talk alone?"

Jareth raised an eyebrow but nodded. "Sure, let's go to my office."

"I can meet you there later, I want to thank Julia and Aaron for taking care of me." She looked towards his sister and his physician.

Jareth couldn't help the smile that was filling his face. Sarah was so, so sweet. Always so thoughtful of others even in a situation such as this. It was a far cry from when she said everything was unfair.

"Of course." He said. "Julia can lead you to my office when you're done. I'll meet you there." He turned on his heel with a swipe of his cape and left.

"He has such a flare for entrances and exits, doesn't he?" Julia appeared next to Sarah. "Always a show off, that one."

Aaron was also next to them. "His Majesty has been like that since he was a child. It's gone to the point where it's almost endearing."

Sarah laughed and faced them. "Physician Aaron and Lady Julia, thank you ever so much for taking care of me when I was hurt. It means a lot to me."

Aaron blushed. "Well, you are a special one aren't you child? Except for my paycheck and the occasional thanks from the king, I don't usually get appreciative words."

"I told you she was different." Julia said. "And Sarah, you're very welcome."

"Even if it is your job, it's still important for me to thank people for being kind to me. Something I had learned last time I was here when I didn't realize what all Jar- His Majesty did for me." She stopped herself from using his name freely.

Julia had a twinkle in her eye. "He's grown up too. I think you changed him."

"Me?" Sarah asked. "Oh by the way, I'm supposed to meet Jareth in his office. Can you take me there?"

"Sure thing." Julia linked her arms with Sarah. "Aaron, do you need me right now?"

"Not immediately but soon so we can stock up on supplies for the lockdown." He said.

"Perfect, will meet you in the South Wing. Come Sarah, let us walk together."

After leaving Aaron and away from all the other people, Julia began to talk. "Jareth is fond of you, I can see. Actually, anyone can see from the way he looks at you."

Sarah blushed. "You think so?"

"Oh I know so." Julia smiled. "You probably reminded him a lot of himself when you were last here from the sound of it. He's told me a little, said you seemed a tad spoiled and said things without thinking which definitely describes him. Your tempers matched each other but you also learned to look around you, to understand what was happening. You have a good heart and a sharp mind. To not take things for granted. I'm sure he did too, though I can also see that you both are quite unsure of each other and still have petty arguments."

Sarah couldn't help it. She let out a laugh. Not because it was funny but because of how accurate it was. "You read into us quite well I suppose."

"It's a gift I have." She laughed. "Unlike most fae, I am mush more in tune with not only my own emotions but the emotions of others. You're his equal and anything you lack he makes up for and vice versa. Similar to him but also the opposite. You both temper each other when needed."

"But I was a child." Sarah said quietly. "Why did he fall for me then?"

Julia was quiet for a moment. "Well, Sarah, I can only guess for Jareth as he likes to be isolated, but he's not one to hurt you or to be rash in marriage. He would have waited for you to grow up before courting you. He would have gotten to know you first. I think that you captured his attention and instead of thinking, he threw all logic out the window and was too arrogant, assuming instantly that he'd win. And I don't think you realize, but when you were using your magic back there, he held you not to ground you but so that he could share the impact of the energy. He hurt himself in the process when he could've let you died. He risked his own life, Sarah."

They reached Jareth's office.

"All I can say is, he cares about you. But he is stubborn and is still scared to show anything. He needs to learn patience and I ask you to be equally patient with him too. He didn't fall for you because you were a child, you just intrigued him. I don't think he really understood what he was feeling."

"I would really prefer for you to leave certain conversations to be held between the appropriate people."

Both girls jumped at Jareth's voice. The king had his arms folded and was glaring at Julia. "You overstepped your boundaries and are involved in matters that do not involved you, Julia."

Julia lowered her head. "Yes, Jareth. I'm sorry."

Sarah looked back and forth between the siblings. "Jareth, she didn't mean-"

Jareth held his hand out to silence her. "I know. But she needs to learn that certain conversations are not hers to be involved in unless invited."

Sarah supposed he was right. This wasn't any of Julia's business and matters of the heart was something that she should be discussing with Jareth directly.

Which was what she was there to do.

She turned to Julia. "Thanks for escorting me."

Julia gave a nod. "Of course. I'm sorry for overstepping, I'm such a gossiper. Unless it's with patients, I'm always careful to keep their records confidential."

"You're just too familiar with me sometimes." Jareth sighed. Sarah could see that he clearly loved his sister with how soft his eyes were. "Stay safe, little sister. We don't know when the Overgrounders will come."

Julia was the only one in his family who showed this much emotion, and even then it was fairly recent. Her father was a loving father. He died from a sickness that took years to finally take him. Because of that, she spent more of her time not taking time for granted. She told everyone she loved them. Jareth was grateful for that since most of his kind weren't so open. Not even their mother.

Jareth closed the door behind them and motioned for Sarah to sit down on a comfortable seat. "Tea and muffins?"

"I'd love some." Sarah accepted his offer.

Jareth poured some tea and set it in front of her. He sat beside her, enjoying the silence for a moment before speaking. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

Sarah shifted a bit uncomfortably. For these past few days, she had strong, strong feelings for Jareth. She couldn't deny the attraction or the pure affection she had for him. She would've put this conversation off but it also affected them with the whole Toby situation. Not to mention her powers.

"It's kind of about what Julia was talking about. And my powers." She said quietly. Matters of the heart was something not too familiar for her. She had never felt anything so strong for someone before and definitely not in such a short amount of time.

Jareth kept his face masked of his feelings. He sipped on his tea. "What do those things have to do with each other?"

Sarah twiddled her thumbs nervously. She kept reminding herself that Jareth was her equal and she was his. She had nothing to be afraid of. For some reason, this was scarier than when she was fighting that shadow. "Do you have the book? The labyrinth book that we found?"

Jareth gave her a strange look but conjured it and handed it to her. He waited patiently as she flipped through the pages.

"That's odd." She murmured.

"What is?" His curiosity peaked and leaned over her.

Sarah avoided his gaze as much as she could. "In the book I had, there was a line there that's missing here. In fact, there's a few changes from this version."

"Usually, there isn't a change within stories for it talks about my parents meeting especially as of late. But sometimes there are changes and no one knows why. To fit the reader and their situation I suppose." His gaze grew more and more intense.

Sarah almost whispered. "I'm so confused."

"Confused about what?" Jareth asked patiently.

"In the book I had," Sarah's voice was so soft that Jareth probably wouldn't have heard it if it weren't for his acute hearing. "It said 'but what no one knew was that the king of goblins had fallen in love with the girl. And had given her certain powers.' In my version, he also danced with her. But this copy is void of that and void of our last meeting."

Jareth closed his eyes and leaned back. "Yes."

Sarah's head slowly moved to looked up at him. "Jareth?"

"The book is something no one truly understands." He said again. "There are many copies around to spread the story of my kingdom around so we can take children, to warn humans and to save the abused. The different changes are something that is a mystery and probably always will be."

Sarah could sense that he was avoided the question. "But Jareth, is it true?"

He met her eyes. In them were a tornado of feelings. They reminded her so much of the time in the Escher room. Pleading, almost angry, broken, lost hope.

He gripped his teacup. "I don't know if love first sight is a thing. I didn't know that the book had written that, or why. A prophecy perhaps?" He laughed darkly. "But I cannot deny that I feel more strongly for you than I had anyone else. Giving you powers? If I did then it was by accident."

He put his teacup down. "But please don't worry about that. You are under no obligation to think anything of me. I'm irrelevant, Sarah. All we want is to get out of this mess."

"Jareth please."

She walked over to him and knelt down. Jareth was surprised by this. She took his hands and kissed them. "Don't tell me that you're irrelevant to me. You never are."

"But what about the past 7 years?" He asked with sorrow.

"I was afraid." She pulled the chair close to him so they could sit next to each other. "Not that you'd necessarily hurt me though that was a small part. I was afraid that I would mean nothing to you. That with all the beautiful women here, I was nothing. That you gave the same offer to every girl that comes by. I'm just some recent college grad who's working, no one special. You offer me my dreams. All I can offer you now is a possibility of my heart, something I've never given anyone. I've had boyfriends and flings but none of them have been able to claim my heart."

She looked away from him. She honestly still wondered, was she really that special?

Jareth was floored. She thought that HE had women all over him? Well, she wasn't wrong if she was referring to before he became king. But now, he didn't allow that for he was too immersed in his work. And besides, if he was going to have someone, she was going to be special and a chance to last forever. He did have women vying for his attention, but very few wanted him permanently if any. His job and title was not an easy thing to deal with.

But Sarah. She was the only one who would rise up to the occasion. And she was the only one willing to show him that she would give her heart to him given some time.

He cupped her face in his hands. "My Precious Sarah. I admit that I've had... experiences. But all of them were no match to you. I do not let just any woman into my life. My offer to you, our interactions is a rare thing for me. You are very special to me. I was intrigued as Julia said, and was too arrogant back then. I asked you to fear me, fear losing me. I asked you to do as I say when I want to protect you not because I want to be in charge of you. I ask you to love me, yes, but now I ask for a chance. It's all I want from you."

Sarah's bottom lip trembled. She smiled a real, beautiful smile for him. And Jareth, oh, he looked so pure. So good. Like a piece that had been missing from her.

"Just give me time, Jareth. Give _us_ time to get to know each other. Give me time to live my life Above. To make plans for a future. We are moving really fast." She chuckled a little.

Jareth's smile never faltered. "Time is something I can grant you. I will give you forever, Precious."

"Forever isn't very long at all." She breathed.

"No, not even close." He agreed.

No one was sure who made the move first. Before they knew it, eyes were closed and lips were touching. Sarah's hands were slowly moving up on Jareth's bare chest then to his shoulders. She intertwined her fingers behind his neck and pushed her body close to his.

Jareth's hands held her face as if it was the whole world. He touched the chain of the pendant on her, feeling good at the fact that she was still wearing something that was a part of him. His hands moved down to hold her waist and he pushed himself closer as much as he pulled her close to him.

Their lips fit perfectly as if they were made for each other. Neither were untouched and had feelings for other people before. But this, even knowing each other for such a short time, so much has happened and so much was promised. It was a chaste kiss, one full of hope.

Jareth slowly pulled away first but he was the last to open his eyes, still savoring the feeling of her lips. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced. The same could be said for Sarah. The image of his lips still puckered and eyes closed in a dream like state would always remain with her.

They rested their foreheads together and rubbed noses. Jareth hugged her close. "Oh, my Sarah."

"My Jareth." She said back. She moved her hand on his chest a bit and frowned at a large, purple mark. "Was that from me?"

Jareth cursed at himself. Apparently he had let his guard down and uncovered the glamor that he had put on. He hushed her and held her close, her head resting on his chest. "Yes. But Precious, please don't worry."

She tried to not tear up, but failed. Sarah nuzzled against him and placed a kiss on the spot where he had been burned. "You shielded me and saved my life. You could've died too."

"If I didn't absorb some of that energy, I would've died anyway." He kissed her hair. "If you died, I would've died along with you."

He stiffened as he realized what he said. He didn't want to scare her away from the intensity of his feelings for her.

Sarah, on the other hand, just held tighter to him. "Julia's right, you're stupid." She tilted her head to look at him, a sad smile on her face. "But then again, I would've done the same to keep you safe."

Jareth had always known what a special person Sarah was. Ever since he saw her playacting in the park. But at that very moment, he confirmed that she was above and beyond anything he had ever imagined.

He leaned to kiss her again when someone was frantically knocking on his door.

"Your Majesty! Sire!"

Both of them pulled away from each other and Jareth went to yank the door open. A young man was looking at him with trembling fear.

"Charles, what's happened?" Jareth demanded him.

"Sire, I'm here to inform you that there are reports of humans and animals are dropping like flies mysteriously, then one of our Knights, Sir Ronan, is severely wounded."

He shakily showed Jareth something. "This was found on his body."

Jareth snatched it from him.

"Oh my god." Sarah whispered. "It's written in blood!"

 _The day of reckoning has come. Surrender the throne._

* * *

 **Yay the kiss we've all been waiting for! I was tempted to make them get interrupted again but I figured I should let them have one full kiss before more chaos ensues.** **How did you guys like Julia? Personally I like the idea of Jareth have a sister who becomes best friends with Sarah (unlike Ingrid in my other story, Strangers Till Now). Never insult the hair!**

 **Bexi Lexi: Also I totally love having Sarah be Jareth's equal as well. Maybe not in every way, but anything one person lacks, the other makes up for it. You should check out my other stories since that's where Sarah is really Jareth's equal. To me, he wouldn't have her any other way. He seems to like to be in control but I think deep inside he wants her to be his equal, to challenge him. As for her powers, we will see what happens with that. Obviously she didn't get a chance to really train or anything. I'm projecting a few more chapters left maybe. The details of how to defeat the demons are kinda fuzzy at the moment lol and I'm not the greatest at battle scenes so hopefully it'll end up okay!**


	11. Chapter 11

"Sound the alarm!" Jareth commanded. His eyes were set with determination. "I want every able and willing citizen to be armed to protect their homes!"

"Yes Sire!" Charles ran off to do his duty.

Jareth grabbed Sarah's hand and they ran out of his office. "Julia!"

Julia transported in front of him. She was dressed in a practical uniform for her healer status. "Sire."

"Be ready in the sick bay with Aaron and direct anyone lost to me."

"On it." She ran off.

Goblins ran around in utter chaos. Jareth snapped at them. "All of you! Go to your homes and stay there. Protect yourselves and protect your children."

They nodded and did as told.

Jareth tug Sarah's hand. "We're going to the sick bay. But first:"

He snapped his fingers and Sarah found herself surrounded in glitter. Looking down, she saw that her dress had transformed to an outfit meant for a knight. She had on chainmail on top of a comfortable shirt with brown tights underneath brown boots. She looked at Jareth and saw that he was dressed in armor as well.

They transported to the sick bay. On the bed was a knight whose eyes were rolled into the back of his head as he moaned in pain. He had a large, bloody wound on his side as Julia and Aaron worked on him.

Sarah and Jareth kept a good distance on him so the healers could do their work.

"Was he the one who was at the portal to the Overground?" Sarah asked. There were a lot of the same green marks on him.

"Yes." Jareth said. "Once he is stable, I hope to question him on what happened."

A few minutes passed by and Ronan was stable. He was clearly in pain but he turned towards Jareth with determination to do his duty.

"Sire, he is stable enough for questioning but try to not stress him." Aaron warned the king.

"Thank you." Jareth gave a nod. "Sir Ronan?"

"Sire, something came and attacked me. I couldn't see what it was." He let out a cough.

"What do you mean?" Jareth raised an eyebrow.

"I mean that I could feel the pain but not see the cause. No shadow, no nothing." He winced. "I was just standing at my post then all of a sudden, I could feel pain searing to my arm."

He lifted his arm to show that he had the same, oozing green slashes as Sarah and Toby had. "Funny enough, my armor is unharmed but I have a wound in me still."

"Could be because they're supernatural, for lack of a better word." Sarah offered. "Maybe that's why they can go through clothes."

"Damn." Jareth massaged his temple. "How do we fight a foe we can't see? And what's the news I heard about humans?"

"The part about humans comes from Captain Annette." Ronan let out another cough, this time with blood.

Jareth bowed his head slightly. "I will leave you to heal, soldier. Thank you for your service. May the gods be with you."

"Same to you, Sire."

Sarah followed Jareth as he turned on his heel. She had tried to be quiet most of the time to let Jareth and others do their duties, only asking questions or giving input whenever she thought it would be valuable. She was grateful for everyone for being gracious with her and for Jareth being mindful of her. She knew that as the link to Toby, she was valuable in knowing what was happening but she also suspected that her newfound romance with Jareth had something to do with it too.

"Jareth?" She ran to catch up with him. He was so much taller than her and had such long legs.

"Captain Annette is in charge of the magicians I had sent to monitor the 7 continents." He said to her. "She would know what's happening with humans. We're going to the Orb Room and it's better to walk there than to transport."

Sarah didn't ask why. There wasn't time and she figured that she would just ask him later.

They approached the room. It was a dark room with a glowing ball in the middle. 7 people in robes, all of different species, were surrounding it. An elf in armor stood away from the globe, out of place with the other creatures.

"Captain Annette." Jareth said.

The elf gave a short head bow. She looked small but Sarah could see in her eyes that she was stronger than she looked. She thought about how wonderful it was that Jareth did not discriminate between species or gender. He just chose whoever was the best for the job.

"Sire." The captain said. "Humans are falling all of a sudden by an unseen force, particularly Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia."

"The night side of the earth, right?" Sarah asked.

"Correct, my lady." The captain nodded. "The interesting thing is, no one is dead. They seem to just be fainting. Some seem to be in mental anguish as if they're having nightmares."

"Good, that means we have time to negotiate or figure out whatever the hell is happening without worrying as much about casualties." The king stated. He adjusted his gloves and gave another one of his intense glares.

A whirlwind of thoughts were circling in Sarah's mind. Everything was happening so fast, and the escalation of danger was exponential. She thought about the letter with Ronan's blood in it. She thought about Toby, about her time in the haunted house…

And it hit her.

Wordlessly, she went to one of the windows and yanked the curtains opened. To her horror, her hunch was right.

"Sarah we need those to be closed!" Jareth said. "We need darkness to observe the Aboveground."

Sarah pointed out the window. "Do you guys see that?!"

Jareth and Annette looked at each other then at Sarah. Annette looked outside. "Um, no my lady. I see only the clear sky and the Labyrinth."

"Shit." Sarah looked at Jareth. "I see ghosts all around, trying make their way in."

Jareth's eyes widened in panic. "WHAT?" He made his way to the window. "Sarah, what do you see?"

Sarah tried to calm her racing heart as she described what she was seeing. "There's see through things that I assume are ghosts, just wandering around. There's creepy weird creatures, oh my god why does that thing look like venom from spider man?"

Jareth summoned his scepter. It flew into his hand and he created a crystal. "Citizens of the Goblin Kingdom! Arm yourself and place spells on your homes, the emergency ones for Overgrounders! Inform other kingdoms to secure themselves NOW!"

Jareth was sweating buckets. He faced Sarah. "Shit. What if this was happening Above and no one could see it but you?"

Sarah clapped a hand over her mouth.

Oh god.

"Talk about upping the stakes." She mumbled. "Why weren't the homes secured with a spell before?"

"Because that takes an incredible amount of energy." Annette said. "I pray that the army will be able to secure the homes of those who do not have the ability to use magic."

Jareth put his head in his hands. He hadn't had any sleep in days, literally. And he was feeling close to vomiting from all this crazy shit happening.

"We need to go Above." He said thickly. "We need to survey the humans. Sarah, I hate to ask you-"

"I'm going of course." She said. "You need me to be able to see them."

Jareth nodded. Honestly, he had a mind to lock her up in a tower to keep her safe. He didn't want to risk losing her, he just got her back in his life. "Okay, stick with me then. As there are magical creatures here, I think it is best that the two of us go Above."

"I will keep charge, Sire." Annette gave a nod. "You need to help the humans, may I suggest bringing a healer? One who could fight as well?"

"My sister is good with human anatomy, I will bring her if Aaron doesn't need her." He gave a nod.

They walked to the sick bay. Sarah rapped on his shoulder, her body tensing up from the whole situation. "Jareth, how will I protect myself? I have magic don't I?"

"Shit." He cursed. "Okay, really, really quick crash course. Julia and I will protect you but you can do some rudimentary magic. Let me contact her and we will go Above."

He contacted Julia, and they were going to go to a portal that would drop them off in Thailand, as it was nighttime there and they would be able to use their magic.

"Hold out your hands." He instructed Sarah.

Sarah held her hands out.

"Now clear your head of thoughts. Reach into yourself and think of a shield."

Sarah did as was told. Nothing happened.

Until Jareth began to pellet her with crystals. Lucky for her, they were small.

"Hey!" She yelled.

"Protect yourself!" He told her.

Sarah pulled into her own energy. Jareth saw her eyes glow purple as before. A strong but invisible dome surrounded her as the crystals kept on coming.

"Good." He said. "Now I'll show you how to make fire crystals. How is your aim?"

"Pretty good, I played softball and did karate for a while." Sarah never would've expected that those sports would help her now with fighting creepy monsters from a different realm.

"These are considerably harder as they're offensive rather than defensive." He took her hands in his. "Close your eyes."

He had her feel what a crystal should feel like in her hands, a slightly smaller one that ones he usually made. He coached her through meditation and focusing when noise was all around her.

After a few tries, Sarah made small and large fire crystals. Jareth was impressed. "You learn quite fast."

"I've been told that. It did take me 13 hours to do a whole 180 when it came to my attitude." She looked at him with a smile.

Jareth gave her a soft smile back. In that moment, in the middle of chaos, he was able to appreciate having her by his side. His lips ached for hers to touch his again but he pushed those thoughts off. They would have time for that later, as would everything else.

In a swirl of magic, Julia appeared next to them. She had on armor as well as some medical supplies in her bag. "I'm here, Jareth."

"Perfect. Aaron told me of some developments of some people fainting?" He asked worriedly.

"Yes. We haven't figured out a way to wake them yet but as their conditions seem stable, in deep sleep, they will be fine so Aaron will heal the ones who are in more immediate physical danger."

"It sounds like the sleeping spell on humans." Sarah said. "None of the humans are hurt, weirdly enough. Do you think it's a trap for them to attack us?"

"Possibly." Jareth said. "Which is why we will stick together. As it is nighttime in Thailand at the moment, Julia and I are able to transport back and forth though our magic is weakened so it would be better to be near a physical portal."

Julia watched both of them talking back and forth, a small smile on her face. Finally, her brother was able to meet someone who regarded him as his equal. Not above him, not beneath him, but his equal. She could see that Sarah had respect for herself to not be pushed around but was also smart enough to know her place when it came to letting Jareth rule and be king. The body language Jareth shared with Sarah was beyond attraction. It was respect and adoration for her. And Julia fully approved of her brother with such a woman.

"What are you smiling at?" Jareth nearly barked at his sister. His temper was about to fizz into an explosion from the lack of sleep.

"Nothing." Julia smiled even more, unnerving both the king and his champion. "Come, we should get going. Every second gone is a second that they're getting stronger."

They approached the portal. Jareth stood in the middle, holding his hands out to Julia and Sarah. Both women had on the matching pendant that Jareth had, embedded with magic. Sarah had one of Julia's swords on her hip.

"Let's save the world." Sarah said.

1, 2, 3…

They all went into the portal and appeared in what looked like a fairly rural area. They could see houses sorting along the river bank and rice fields. To Jareth and Julia, it was a lovely sight as the stars were clear and the full moon hanging over the fields, reflected in the river. There were crickets chirping as well. The only thing that was a bit of a nuisance was the fact that it was the rainy season and they were standing right in the mud.

"Ew, my boots." Jareth lifted a foot up and wrinkled his nose at the mud that dirtied his well polished boot.

"You worry too much about appearance and style." Julia shook her head. "You're ridiculous. Sarah, tell him he's ridiculous."

Sarah didn't answer and Julia looked over to the human woman. "Sarah?"

Even in the dark, Jareth and Julia could see Sarah's pale face, blood rushing away. Her green eyes were opened wide and her breaths came out in short pants.

Jareth and Julia took their places behind her, though they couldn't see what was wrong. Jareth put a protective hand on her shoulder. "Sarah?"

The moment they landed, Sarah gasped at seeing the demon in front of her. It was large, about 10 feet tall in height though it's tail could add more than twice that length.

It had the upper body of a man and the lower half of a snake. Grey and dead looking but also not quite dead. Its eyes were a deep, deep red and the twin horns on the head angled backwards. On each hand were two finger like appendages, and they were both claw-like and as long as its arm. The deep red eyes flashed in amusement at her opened mouth, the sneer filling her soul with some kind of unnamable emotion that was akin to fear.

It let out a deep and throaty laugh. " _This isn't your world anymore, young queen. It is mine._ "

It swiped a hand to the ground, sending the mud flying in their direction. The force was strong enough for all three to lose their balance.

Jareth wiped the mud from his eyes, the dirt gathering in his hair while Julia coughed up a good amount of dirt. An invisible force to the two fae swept up Julia in a mini tornado, swirling her away and plopping her on the field.

"JULIA!" Jareth screamed after his sister.

"Stop it!" Sarah cried. "Just stop!"

A fog surrounded her and the demon. He let out a throaty laugh. " _You think you can stand against me, human?_ " The demon's voice was mocking and cutting. "Y _ou think that HE will protect you?_ " He gestured towards Jareth's direction.

Sarah chewed on her bottom lip. Her hands were clenched to her side in fists. Searching deep in her soul, she thought about her anchor, her reason, her purpose and let that fuel her. She spoke with eloquence and grace even in her fear. "You will be defeated. Where is my brother?"

The demon gave a sly smile. He flicked his wrist and in front of her was Toby in that same damned cage as before.

Instinctively, she ran towards the sleeping boy but was propelled backwards. Using her sword, she dragged it on the ground to stabilize herself.

"Let me see him!" Sarah demanded. Unknown to her, her eyes started to glow purple and the sheer determination in her was adding to the magic swirling inside her veins.

The demon saw the power inside of her. He didn't let her see the fear in his eyes, but he did change his tactic as he could see that wiping her out wasn't going to be so easy. " _Little queen, join us and you can have your brother. Unharmed and unchanged_."

"And why the hell should I trust you?" Sarah tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. "What use do you have for me?"

" _We have no use for humans or the Aboveground_." His rumbling voice seem to shake the very earth itself. " _We want to live, just as you do_."

"Live? That's a funny word considering that you're of the undead." Sarah fired at him. Her eyes weren't glowing as brightly but the power was still there.

" _What did your king tell you? Did he tell you that his kind shoved us all into our own dimension?_ " The demon roared. " _Why would you trust him? What has he done to promise you that he is to be trusted?_ "

"He wasn't the one who kidnapped my brother." Sarah held the sword in front of her. "He helped me and risked his own life!"

" _Because you are so, so valuable to him_." He inched a little closer to Sarah. "Y _ou have power. Why would he desire you otherwise? What would he do to you? Hmm?_ "

Sarah faltered. She couldn't think of a good answer to that for she was also worried about the same thing. Did Jareth have ulterior motives with her? This wasn't just another man in her life. He was a king with powers unknown to her.

" _I see you're questioning yourself. Good_." The demon used a claw to tip Sarah's face up to see his eyes. "I _have underestimated you and your determination._ "

"Understatement of the year." Sarah glared at him.

" _I will cease this chaos to humans. I will send my minions to the Underground instead. How about we alter the deal, queen? You can rule the Underground by yourself. Or with your brother. You can have everything you want. You can have whatever dreams, whatever fantasies you want and live in that world forever._ "

He let go of her face. " _What will it be, Champion and queen? Will you join us? Will you let us take our place as creatures of the magical world?_ "

Sarah looked to the side. She knew that he meant every word he said. He would not harm humans. He would give her any fantasy, any dream she wanted. She wasn't sure how she knew he was telling the truth, but she did.

The demon smiled broadly at her thinking face. This was too easy. Humans were so simple, so quick to manipulate with their desires and dreams. It was too bad that they weren't magical, only some of them were. If he was able to have the Underground, well, he could take whatever he wanted.

Sarah looked at the demon again. "Why did you take Toby?"

" _Because he had faith, he's a changeling just like you._ " He answered her. She would come to him soon enough, just a few more moments. " _He has power just like you do, but you have more of it. Give it to us so we can be free from our world that's not really a world_."

"You hurt him." Sarah hissed. "That's unforgivable."

" _We had to convince you to join us somehow._ " His patience was thinning. " _But as I said, we underestimated you. Fear and threats were the wrong way to convince you to see us. We have not harmed him to the point where he cannot be made back into the child he was_."

Sarah turned and looked at Jareth, who was struggling to revive Julia. The king was sifting through her bag, trying to look for anything to wake her up.

" _You see_?" The demon had an almost sympathetic voice. " _He doesn't even care about you_."

Sarah felt stronger by the minute. Oh, that demon. Not knowing that he had lost the moment he told her that he would give her any dream, any fantasy.

She had been made that offer long ago, and had turned it down for something real.

" _Answer me this: What would you trust that fae with? What is holding you back from taking my offer?_ "

Sarah slowly lifted her face to look into his eyes again. The demon, for the first time, was scared of what he saw in her.

Amusement.

"I have been offered my dreams before and rejected it for the same reason: Toby." She took a step closer. "You made a mistake thinking that I will cower before you? You have turned my world upside down, but you didn't do it for me."

She stabbed her sword up in the air. "You asked me what I trust Jareth with. I trust him with more than my life. I trust the king of goblins with the life of my brother and with my own heart!"

A noise of swords being drawn filled the air. Even without turning around, Sarah knew what was happening.

Like a dark, avenging angel, Jareth leapt up with two swords and landed beside her. His hair flowered all around him like the sun's corona, majestic and unearthly. His eyes were set in power.

When Julia was thrown backwards, Jareth tried to grab Sarah but his champion was engulfed in a fog. Try as he might, he couldn't find her.

"DAMN!" He screamed. Not even his pendant was tethering her to him. It seemed that whatever was holding her was too strong.

He ran to Julia instead, checking up on his sister. Just like her patients, she was also knocked out cold.

"Julia? Julie?" He called her by her nickname. "Hey, wake up. Please."

Still no response.

He dug into her bag to find something, anything to get her up. He tried to use his magic to feel for what was wrong but of course, it was no use. He checked over her and saw no markings on her.

Jareth growled and wailed in pain. He was helpless and unable to assist Sarah. He had failed to save Toby and now he was going to lose both Sarah and Julia too.

He held his sister's hand. "Julie, my baby sister, please don't leave me."

Then, in the distance, he heard a voice.

The fog started to clear a little. Jareth's eyes widened at seeing a large, formidable serpentine demon. It was still hard to see with all the fog, but he could make a out a smaller figure.

Sarah.

"I have been offered my dreams before and rejected it for the same reason: Toby." His champion took a step closer. "You made a mistake thinking that I will cower before you? You have turned my world upside down, but you didn't do it for me."

She stabbed her sword up in the air. "You asked me what I trust Jareth with. I trust him with more than my life. I trust the king of goblins with the life of my brother and with my own heart!"

At this, Jareth grabbed his and Julia's sword. He unsheathed them and leapt up into the night sky to land next to Sarah. Even with the mud still caked on his face and body, he looked and felt every bit as the strong king as he always was.

 _"Then say goodbye to everything and everyone you ever loved!"_

Years later, this would be a phenomena that no one would be able to explain. No one would understand how Sarah was able to know how to do what she did. No one would be able to explain why Jareth didn't question it and just went along with what she was doing. But they did.

Sarah lifted her hand above the air then pulled down a purple crystal, swirling with the essence of her magic. At the same time, Jareth also made a crystal but his was swirling blue.

Both of them willed their gloves away and held hands with each other, bare skin on bare skin. The moment the touched, the crystals glowed even brighter. The demon moved backwards, never seeing a power source this strong and so dense in one area before.

Sarah let out a war cry. She fused her crystal with Jareth's. Together, they threw their crystals at the demon, hitting his heart.

The demon wailed and lashed at them but the king and his champion remained unharmed.

Still hand in hand, Jareth and Sarah leapt from the ground to strike him with their swords. A dance, a battle for the ages. Twisting and turning, they moved as if they were synchronized in perfect execution.

At last, Jareth threw one of his swords at Sarah. He linked his two hands together. "Sarah!"

Sarah caught the sword in perfect timing. Seeing his hands linked, she knew what she had to do.

She ran and using his hands as leverage, she jumped into the air and sliced the demon's head off.

"YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER US!"

* * *

 **I am so sorry this took a while, I have a midterm next week and had a large paper to write. I will finish this story, don't worry!**

 **Why Thailand? Because I'm from there and it's the opposite side of America where it's currently daytime in this story lol. I hope this chapter was okay, I don't know I'm not very good with battle scenes I feel and I hope it didn't seem like defeating the demon was too easy since Sarah had to fight with her own inner demons. In my mind, Jareth and Sarah had to learn to trust each other. Their main battle was the haunted house, this was just them finishing it off.**

 **Also, this story evolved way more than I had planned so this chapter and the last was kind of a surprise one. I hope you'll still enjoy it as I finish it off with some more cute Jareth and Sarah scenes! I would love reviews to see what you think of it and I'm sorry I'm not so good at tying things up as I'd like.**


	12. Chapter 12

Jareth was the first to wake. He gained his strength quite quickly as being king meant he received certain powers. He went to check on Sarah, Toby, and Julia. Seeing that they were fine, he went to check on his subjects and the kingdom itself. He was still exhausted, but the time he had to sleep really changed his mood.

"Sire, the boy is awake." Aaron informed him. "Your sister and Lady Sarah are still asleep."

"Thank you." Jareth gave Aaron a nod. To his generals, he said "Keep checking for any damages and to seal back the portals as much as possible."

Jareth sat by his bed. "Do you know who I am?" He asked the boy gently.

Toby rubbed his eyes and a small smile filled his face. "You're Jareth the goblin king."

Jareth chuckled. "That's right. How do you know?"

"You sang Magic Dance to me as a baby." Toby said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Jareth looked at him surprisingly. "You remember?"

"Uh huh!" Toby said proudly. "My sister, she remembers you too but she doesn't talk about you."

Jareth had his toothy grin. He patted the boy's head. "And what did your sister do to let you know that she remembers me?"

"She has an owl feather and a crystal. She looks at it sometimes and hugs them. I think she likes you." Toby said quietly, as if afraid Sarah would hear him.

Jareth grinned at this new revelation and tucked it away for later use.

Toby's eyes went wide, remembering. "Oh no, where is she?"

Jareth took Toby's hand to see his sister, who was still asleep. Sarah looked agitated and was moaning in pain. Her black hair was damp with sweat, her body flinging a little back and forth. "Toby!" She screamed.

Toby put a hand to his mouth and ran to her. He buried his head in her shirt. "Sarah!"

Jareth's heart broke at seeing Sarah in such pain and from seeing Toby cry out for his sister. He could see clearly now that Sarah and Toby both adored each other.

"What happened to her?" Toby hugged her tightly. "Why is she sleeping and crying?"

"We're not quite sure, I think she's just tired." Jareth tried to soothe him. "She used a lot of magic and as a human, it was amazing that she was able to withstand it for as long as she did." He looked at Toby curiously. "Do you not remember anything?"

Toby put a finger to his lips and thought about it for a moment. "No. I remember that Sarah told me to not go in the house. But I don't remember after that. I remember seeing her on the field but that was it."

Jareth gave a nod. It was probably for the best that Toby didn't remember the torture that he went through. He knelt down by Sarah, stroking her hair. "Oh Sarah..."

Toby watched the king whisper sweet words to his sister very carefully. At Jareth's touch, Sarah instantly relaxed, though she whimpered a bit. At her whimper, Jareth attempted to withdraw but Sarah held onto him.

Jareth slipped off his boots and climbed onto the bed with her and Toby. He put his arm around her and held her to his chest, whispering to her over and over. "Sarah, you're safe. It's okay, Toby's here. I'm here."

Tears leaked from her eyes and Jareth felt his heart break even more at the pain she was going through. He shifted so she was as comfortable as possible.

Toby backed away just a little at seeing the closeness this man had for his sister. He had seen Sarah date before and most of her boyfriends were nice, but he had never seen anyone hold her like Jareth did. He was not a child who was used to being quiet and asked all the questions that came to his head or said whatever statement that came to his mind.

"You love her." Toby stated.

Jareth's vulnerable face was instantly masked and he near glared at the boy. "What?"

"You love her." Toby fearlessly repeated. He knew that he probably should've been scared, but he didn't feel that way. He felt safe with the king. How could he be scared of someone who held his beloved sister so sweetly in his arms?

"And what makes you say that?" Jareth's voice had a sharp edge but it was blunted by it softening near the end. "What do you know about love?"

Toby shrugged. "A lot of her boyfriends didn't care so much when she cried or had nightmares. I think when you love or care about someone, you hurt when they're hurt too. When Sarah's sad, I'm sad. When dad is sad, mom is sad too. Sarah is sad now and you're sad too."

Out of the mouth of babes. Jareth looked down on Sarah. He had feelings for her of course, but was it love? Could you really love someone so quickly?

 _But it wasn't so quickly, you felt for her back then and asked for a chance._ His inner mind told him. _You both had years to think of each other._

He gave Toby a little smile. It seemed that he had in fact, fallen in love with her.

He desperately wanted to ask if he knew Sarah felt the same way or not, but that was something he'd rather she tell him herself. Besides, he knew that she already trusted him as was clear from when she told the demon that she trusted him with her heart.

He felt her stir and one of her hands came up to touch his chest to hold herself close to him. Her cheek brushed against his shirt in a way that asked to be cared for. Jareth lifted his hand up to stroke her hair.

" _Jareth_." Her voice breathed out contentedly.

"Yeah, you definitely love her." Toby grinned. He moved back a little to give his sister and her new lover some space. "Are you going to ask her to be your boyfriend?"

Jareth chuckled. "How would you feel if I did?"

"That would be so cool!" Toby said excitedly. "I like you."

As a king, Jareth didn't really care about people's approval on a personal level. Oh, he cared for thoughts and opinions on practical things to be respectful but it didn't matter to him personally. Toby's feelings of him, that he approved of him with Sarah, well, it made him feel good. He wasn't used to feelings of approval even from his own family but he found that opening up his heart seemed to want to do that.

"I like you too." He told Toby honestly.

* * *

Sarah felt her body heat up with worry and with an overwhelming sense of magic inside of her, threatening to short circuit her. She kept seeing visions, visions of Toby being hurt and visions of the demon hurting her.

Somehow, in the recess of her mind, she saw and felt Jareth's arms around her. She could feel his long hair touching the back of her neck and his warm body keeping her comfortable. She could feel Toby's soft hair and his body snuggling against her chest.

Her head spun a little and her heart started to slow it's fast beating.

Must.. wake…

It felt like someone had glued her eyes shut but slowly, she opened them to see a small and blond boy on her lap.

"Sarah!" Toby hugged her tightly.

"Hey you." Sarah held him close. Then all at once, she remembered the evil that had almost stripped him away from her and she started to cry. "Toby, you're safe, you're okay…"

Toby didn't let her go. "Sar, I'm okay. I'm here. You're okay too."

Sarah kissed the top of his head "I love you, squirt. I would do anything for you."

"That much is clear." A low voice said fondly.

Sarah realized that the voice was coming from behind her, reverberating through her back. She turned around and saw Jareth beaming down on her. "Hello, Precious."

Sarah didn't care that she was so near death. She didn't care about the damn near apocalypse. She just had to kiss him.

And kiss him she did.

Their lips collided and Jareth wholly welcomed her in his arms. His body, his scent, the feel of his feathery hair in her fingers, all of that helped her to really accept that not only that they were okay, but that the world was right.

She pulled away from him and rested her head on his chest. "I thought I lost you. I dreamt that I did."

Jareth let out a chuckle and kissed the top of her head. "I'm not letting you go that easily, Precious."

"Are you guys done yet?"

The king and the champion looked to the side of the bed where Toby had covered his eyes from seeing them kiss. The boy moved one of his fingers to look at that. "You guys are acting like mom and dad."

Sarah blushed deeply and Jareth gave a deep laugh. "Well, Toby," the king said. "You are welcome to play with any toys and to explore my castle. I do have to talk to your sister for a moment."

Toby nodded and zoomed out the room as fast as he could.

Sarah shook her head and made herself comfortable on Jareth's chest. "That was crazy."

Jareth kissed the top of her head and brushed his cheek onto hers. "No kidding."

"I still don't totally understand." Sarah said.

Jareth turned her so she was facing him. "My people were able to do some more research. Turns out that what we had seen in the haunted house was not just a portal to the Overground, but illusions. The little girl and her mother were there because they had shown you memories."

"What about when we were in Thailand? That huge demon?" Sarah played with the pendant on her shirt, the one that he placed on her.

"The queen bee, as you described it." Jareth said. "There will always be demons that come and go, but these guys got stronger for some reason. We will have to keep a closer watch on the Overground but everything seems to be normal now."

Jareth paused a little. "Did you mean what you said back there?"

Sarah couldn't look at his eyes anymore. She just nodded, knowing what he was talking about. "Yes, Jareth. I trust you with my heart. It's so soon, but you don't have to-"

He hushed her and kissed her lips again.

Sarah tried to push him away but he just kept on going, so she gave up after not trying for too long. She wanted this too. Wanted him. Cared about him.

When they pulled apart, Jareth put his forehead to his. "Your heart is precious, Sarah. And I am honored to care for it. I will not disappoint you. And you hold mine too, just as you always have."

* * *

After being sure that none of the Overgrounders were still around (by using Sarah to take a peak out the window), the couple nearly fainted at the sight of the little ghost girl in Jareth's office.

The little girl didn't look bloodied or in pain. In fact, she looked normal, without scars and without blemish.

Sarah squeezed Jareth's hand and knelt down to the girl's level. "You saved my brother, you were his guardian angel. Thank you."

The girl clutched her bear to her. "I want to say goodbye. I'm free now, thank you for freeing me."

Jareth realized that by demolishing the house, the girl was able to cross over.

"You take care, alright?" Sarah told her. "We will never forget you."

A bright light enveloped her, and she disappeared.

* * *

 **I hope this chapter was alright, it was pretty hard for me to figure out how to end things. Not the plot but how to execute it. Sorry for keeping you all waiting for so long!**

 **For those of you who are waiting for Strangers Till Now, I'm really sorry because my freaking laptop decided to delete the chapter I was writing. UGH. But it WILL be done! I will get this one finished up first though, Just one more chapter.**

 **And by the way, I'm writing a new pic that I will post soon. It has a lot done already, a mostly feel-good story (with some angst of course), Cinderella style. It's pretty innocent and I can't wait to share it with you all! Thanks everyone!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Epilogue**

"Trick or Treat!" Toby yelled.

"You gotta knock first, silly." Sarah laughed. "They don't know you're here until you do!"

That wasn't totally true though, but eh, close enough.

Jareth had been able to reorder some things so that no one Above remembered Sarah going to jail or Toby being kidnapped. Although, now people were wondering what happened to the haunted house that everyone had always talked about. It seemed to just, disappear.

As for the king and his champion, they decided to start dating (or courting, depending on who you were talking to). Sarah still wanted to go and get her PhD in forensic science eventually and Jareth didn't mind. So long as he got to visit her and spend time with her, he was alright with it.

He waited this long for her, he would wait longer if it meant she would be in his arms forever.

Back to the present, Toby was in his power ranger costume (the red ranger was his favorite) and he held out a fancy looking bucket made by Jareth. A goblin opened the door and grinned at the boy.

"Oh no you don't, you give him treats just like I said you will do." Jareth glared at the goblin.

"But he said Trick OR Treat!" The goblin whined.

Jareth gave another death glare. "Bog?"

"NO BOG!" The goblin dumped all the candy into Toby's bucket and ran inside.

Sarah laughed and threw her arms around his neck to kiss his cheek. "Thanks for recreating trick or treat for him."

Jareth felt his chest swell. "For you and for Toby, anything."

He leaned down to kiss her, pulling her body as tightly to him as he could. He enjoyed feeling her soft and feminine curves against his own lean and hard body, loving her little squeal whenever he did.

"Get a room!" Julia plugged her nose and pretended to gag.

Sarah pulled apart but Jareth kept a tight grip on her hips as he glared at his sister. "I will do what I want, little sister. I'm the king!"

"King of the land of stench!" Julia mocked him. When Jareth kept on eyeing her, she said "well, you said it to Hoggle. A taste of your own medicine, Your Majesty." She put her hands on her hips and stuck her tongue out.

Sarah had to grab Jareth's arm to make sure that he didn't chase after his sister and stick her in an oubliette for a few hours. Apparently she annoyed him so much that it DID happen before.

Julia looked at them triumphantly. "Ha! See, even Sarah doesn't want you to bog me. Love you big bro!" And she went away.

Jareth rolled his eyes. "Why does she always do that?"

"It's what sisters do." Sarah kissed his nose. "And you love her."

Jareth snorted. "I do. She still annoys me though."

"I annoy you too." She moved his arm from her waist to be around her shoulders. "You don't push me away."

"In case it has escaped your mind, I have a different kind of love for you than for my sister." He kissed her jaw. He froze when he realized what he said.

Sarah looked at him too, a slow grin filling her face. "You mean that?"

Jareth blushed. Actually blushed! "Yes, I love you, Precious."

Sarah squealed and kissed him over and over. "I was waiting for you to say that! I love you too."

Jareth never felt his heart feel so full yet so light at the same time. He lifted her up in the air.

And all was good in the goblin kingdom.


End file.
